September 25, 2011
Scripture:
Scripture:
Prayer
Hymn 329 - A little lamb went straying
Prayer
1 Samuel 31
Our chapter today is not a very happy one. Last time, David had returned from going to fight for the Philistines because some of the Philistines didn’t trust him. That battle is the one that we have in today’s chapter and the Philistines were winning it.
During the battle, Saul was hit by an archer; an archer is somebody who shoots with a bow and arrow. When you’re hit by an arrow, it means the person that hit you is far away. Saul was wounded, and asked his armour-bearer to kill him. When he refused, Saul fell on his own sword and died. Later on, Jonathan and Saul’s other sons were killed. How sad!
In our lives, we have decisions to make and those decisions affect what happens to us. Another word for decisions is choices. Some choices are easy to make, like what you are going to have on your toast at breakfast, but others are more difficult and can affect our lives.
Imagine that you come to a pond in the middle of winter; it is frozen over. You want to get to the other side of the pond, but there’s a sign that says ”Caution: Thin Ice.” You now have a decision to make: will I ignore the sign and walk across, and maybe get hurt? or will I heed the sign and go around the pond? We must make this kind of decision in life. How thankful we can be that we have the Lord and His word to guide us.
Over the course of 1 Samuel, both Saul and Jonathan made decisions that affected their lives. Remember when the Lord told Saul to wipe out the Amalekites: men, cattle, and everything. Saul didn’t kill everything and the Lord said that because he didn’t fully obey the command, the kingdom would be taken away from him. Then, think of Jonathan: he loved David. He would come and cheer David up when he was depressed. He said that when David was king, he would be second-in-command to David, but unfortunately that was not the case. He decided that he would stay in the palace instead of staying in the mountains with David. That cost him his life. If he had stayed with David, he would not have been at the battle.
As young people, you have decisions to make. In the world, the Lord Jesus is not very popular, but we have to make the right choices to glorify the Lord.
Philippians 1:20
Jonathan loved David, but he made a decision that cost him his life. We have to be able to make the right decisions.
At the end of the chapter, the Philistines were very happy to have killed Saul and his sons. They hung them up as a show, but some of the people who Saul had blessed in his life went and took them down to honour Saul.
Luke 7:24 - 50
This is an interesting chapter. In the first six chapters the Lord’s dealings were mostly with Jewish people; but the first story here is about a gentile centurion. His servant was sick, and he sent some people to ask Jesus to heal him; but he said, “You don’t have to come, just say the word and my servant will be healed.” Jesus said, “I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.” Our Lord then went to Nain, where He and His disciples met a funeral procession. There was no long-distance healing here; He touched the young man, raised him from the dead, and delivered him to his mother.
While all this was going on, John the Baptist was in prison; and he started to wonder if Jesus was really the One sent to restore Israel. So he sent a couple of his disciples to ask Jesus that very question. Jesus told them to go and tell John the things that they had seen. “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” John had the right person, but he was wondering if that person was doing the right thing. Haven’t we felt that way sometimes? Haven’t we wondered if if the Lord couldn’t do things another (less painful) way?
After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the multitude (not John or his messengers) about John. John was a unique person. He spent a lot of his time in the wilderness; not around where most people lived. He wore strange leather clothes, like Elijah. His diet was different, too. He was a separated person with a stern message. Jesus was sent from God, from heaven; but John was sent from God (John 1:6) from the wilderness. He had spent a lot of time with God, a privilege that others didn’t have. He was the greatest of all prophets. He was a special person with a special message at a special time. He was raised to prepare the way for the Lord.
Jesus asked these people - who had been baptised by John - “What did you go out to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” That doesn’t sound like John; he was firm, with a strong message. “Someone dressed in soft raiment?” That wasn’t John, he wore leather. The delicately arrayed live in palaces. “A prophet?” Ah, John was more than that. He was the promised messenger. V28 tells us that he was the greatest prophet. We then find a big “but”. John was living at a time when the dispensations were changing. It was the end of a period, and the start of the kingdom of God.
It was a difficult time, when the Lord was here, because He couldn’t preach the gospel until the work of the cross had been accomplished. He knew it all, yet He couldn’t tell of the glory of the grace that would be shown. When we get up, we should feel grateful that we can tell the wondrous story of the cross. Jesus knew it all before the world began, but He gave you and me the privilege of telling it.
John was the greatest prophet, but he wasn’t in the kingdom of God. John 3:3 tells us: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We can rejoice in a new birth, and all the blessings that we’re born into when we’re born into the kingdom of God, but John couldn’t.
John was the greatest prophet born of women, but he said, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30). He had a ministry, but he had to fade into the shadows so that the Lord could take his place. “He was not that light.” (John 1:8). We must each say in our hearts: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” As we grow in grace, may we also diminish in self.
Like some of the Old Testament prophets, John never wrote a book; but he did have the privilege of baptising the Lord Jesus.
All the people that head Jesus speak about John justified God. And I thought that God justified me? These people were justifying what God was doing; and that was showing grace. God had a right to do that. It’s the basis of the work of Christ.
These people were all baptised by John; and we’ve seen that it was a baptism of repentance. If you justify God in repentance, you’re saying, “God’s right in saying that I’m wrong.” It’s not saying, “Why would a God of love say that I’m wrong?” No, God is right; we were dead in trespasses and sins. Repentance is taking God’s side against ourselves and our old nature.
Hymn 299 - Around the throne of God in heaven
Prayer