February 26, 2012
Scripture:
Scripture:
I would like to refer back to the 1st chapter in Ephesians; we’ve had v. 7 brought before us. We see there that the riches of His grace are connected with redemption. As sinners, we were unacceptable to God, but the Lord’s blood washed and cleansed us. That makes us like angels: creatures sinless in the eyes of God.
But as we saw in the beginning of the chapter, God wanted us to be more than angels. Read v. 6. So, the glory of His grace raised our status and we were brought by love into a divine relationship. We have been made sons. We have the verse in Hebrews which says, “bringing many sons unto glory.” When He rose from the dead, He became the firstborn of those sons. When we were brought in, we were accepted of the Beloved. It is precious to know that we have been brought into this relationship. We are sons, not in gender, but in relationship. It is a relationship filled with love. And it is ours right now: we don’t have to wait until heaven. We are here this morning in a holy place. The Holy of Holies was holy because God was present. This place is holy because God is present. Let us delight to be here!
Hymn 380 - Standing by a purpose true
Prayer
We just sang about Daniel’s band, but today we will be reading about David’s band: his mighty men. David needed his mighty men for the battles that he fought. In Bible times, battles were different from today’s battle. Back then, you would fight hand-to-hand with swords, and you needed strong men. That’s what David had.
2 Samuel 23:8 - 21
David’s number one mighty man, Adino, was amazing. He killed 800 men with a spear, by himself, at one time. This was one thing that he was known for. Eleazer, David’s second most mighty man stood and fought the Philistines when all Israel left. He got tired, but he held on to his sword. He had the courage to stand alone and “the Lord wrought a great victory” . In the world, today there is a lot of sin and our flesh wants to go along with it. We need to have the courage to stand alone and do the right thing. The third mighty man, Shammah, defended Israel’s field of lentils from the Philistines. Israel had fled, but this man stood his ground. Again it says that, “the Lord wrought a great victory.” This man was defending Israel’s food. We can compare that to the Bible, which is our spiritual food: we need to be able to stand alone and stand for what the Bible says.
These three men went to David when he was in the cave of Adullam. David said that he wanted to drink the water of the well in Bethlehem. At the time, Bethlehem was invaded by the Philistines. David didn’t ask these men to get the water, but they knew his heart and went to Bethlehem, fought their way through the Philistines, got the water, and brought it to David. These men knew David’s heart and if we would like to please the Lord we need to know His heart. We do that by reading His word.
David had many mighty men, several of whom were as brave as the ones we’ve talked about. Another interesting one was Benaiah, who killed a lion in a pit. He also killed an Egyptian using the Egyptian’s own weapon. That sounds a lot like what David did, doesn’t it? I’m sure David was a good example to his mighty men.
You might have thought that Joab’s name would be on this list of mighty men, since he was David’s captain. Although Joab did a lot for David, he also did many things for himself, things that hurt David. There’s a lesson here for us: we need to obey the Lord in everything. May we each seek to be mighty for the Lord!
Luke 10:21-42
What hour was Jesus rejoicing in? In the same hour that He told the seventy to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. We’ve just heard in the children’s meeting about David’s list of mighty men. If God made such a list, would your name be on it? Now, as we heard, it was the Lord who wrought the victories performed by those men, and He is still the One that wins the victories, but the person seems to get the credit; they made themselves available to God. We need to stand and defend the ground full of lentils - the food of God’s people - from false doctrine. There are many who have.
The names of these seventy were written in heaven, and we will see them there; along with Old Testament saints like Abraham and Adino the Eznite from David’s mighty men. We read this morning of grace that is able to lift us, to heavenly places. We are on earth, but we are also seated in heavenly places in Christ.
When Brother Norman printed tracts, he printed a tract that was a poem called The Muster Roll. A muster roll is like a roll call or an attendance check. You might call David’s list of mighty men a muster roll. The poem went:
The Muster Roll: An Incident in the American War.
A battle had been fought,
And on the plain, unmindful of defeat
Or victory, the slain and wounded lay.
Grim Death was busy still, unsatisfied,
Gathering the remnants of that sad day's spoil.
As night drew on,
Two men of God were seen, moving amid
Those scenes of death and dying agony,
As, nerved by heavenly strength, and tender care
For souls, they sought to comfort dying saints
By whispering in their ears His promises,
From whom nor life nor death can separate;
And to the Lamb of God, whose precious blood
Can cleanse from every sin, to point the gaze
Of those whose day of life was almost past,
Their sins yet unforgiven.
And now they stand
Beside a manly form, outstretched, alone.
His helmet from his head had fallen.
His hand still firmly grasped his keen but broken sword.
His face was cold, and, thinking he was gone,
They were just passing on, for time was precious,
When a faint sigh caught their attentive ears.
Life was still there, so, bending softly down,
They whispered in his ears most earnestly,
Yet with that hush and gentleness with which
We ever speak to a departing soul:
"Brother! the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from every sin."
The pale lips moved
And gently whispered, "Hush!" and then they closed,
And life again seemed gone.
But yet once more
They whispered those thrice blessed words, in hope
To point the parting soul to Christ and heaven:
"Brother! the precious blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse from every sin!"
Again the pale lips moved;
All else was still and motionless, for Death
Already had his fatal work half done,
But, gathering up his quickly failing strength,
The dying soldier, dying victor said:
"Hush! for the angels call the muster roll; I wait to hear my name!"
They spoke no more.
What need to speak again? for now full well
They knew on Whom his dying hopes were fixed,
And what his prospects were.
So, hushed and still, they, kneeling, watched.
And presently a smile
As of most thrilling and intense delight
Played for a moment on the soldier's face,
And with his one last breath he whispered, "Here!"
O grand and blessed death!
Quite ready for the call,
He hears his Captain's voice; it says:
"Whosoever will may come."
(Anonymous)
That man’s name was written in heaven.
Our Lord died so that it would be possible for us to respond to Him and have our names written in heaven. That is why He rejoiced in spirit. The physical body of the soldier in the poem may have died, but his spirit went on to a much bigger life; where there is no war, but perfect peace instead.
God talks about the way that the Lord would make in Isaiah 35:8-9. “The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” Sometimes the simpler doctrine is, the better. Sometimes young children know more about some doctrines than their elders.
Deuteronomy 4:7. There were many nations and many gods in the land of Canaan; but the Israelites had the real God among them. Deuteronomy 4:8-9. How richly they were blessed! And how richly we are blessed: we have our names written in heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. None of them have been left out. What manner of people ought we to be!
Hymn 333 - Come to the Saviour
Prayer