Treasured Truth

April 28, 2013

April 28, 2013

Morning Meeting

  • Hymn 27 - Lamb of God, our souls adore Thee
  • Scripture: Leviticus 1:1 - 4, 10 - 13 - This chapter is about the burnt offering. Sometimes we read in Genesis 22 that Isaac asked Abraham, “Where is the Lamb?” Abraham says that God will provide a lamb. The lamb spoken of in Leviticus 1 was a foreshadow of the Lamb He would provide. Out of the five sacrifices, only the burnt offering is completly offered. It is a picture of the Lord’s willingness to offer Himself. The fire of God’s judgement came upon the Lord and it sent up a sweet savour and God was glorified. We can each say, “He died for me”, but we can also say, “He died for God,” so He had a righteous ground to forgive sinners.
  • Hymn 37 - Th’ atoning work is done
  • Scripture: Ephesians 5:2 - We are reminded of the cross and the Lord’s love for us, but also His love for the Father.
  • Prayer
  • Hymn 152 - Thy name we love, Lord Jesus

  • Scripture:

    • 1 Peter 2:24 - The sinless Lamb of God took the sin of the World although He was clean.
    • 1 Peter 1:18 - 19
  • Breaking of Bread
  • Hymn 150 - Thou art the everlasting Word
  • Ministry: Hebrews 9:14
  • Prayer

Ministry: Norman Burgess

Let’s look at Hebrews 9:14. This is the New Testament counterpart to the burnt offering; notice how the Trinity is involved. He gave Himself for me, but He also gave Himself for God.

Children’s Meeting: Norman Burgess

Hymn 338 - I love my Saviour

Prayer

Matthew 13:24-30

The farmer here is also called the householder and he had his servants plant wheat in one of his fields. One night, while the farmer was sleeping, an enemy went into the farmer’s field of freshly-planted wheat and planted tares (weeds) among the wheat. When everything started to grow, the wheat came up first, and then the weeds. At first, they looked like the same thing; but as they grew larger, it became obvious that weeds had been planted with the wheat. The servants wondered if they should pull the weeds, but the farmer told them that if they were to pull the weeds out right now they would also pull the wheat out. Instead they would wait until they harvested the wheat and then they would separate the wheat and weeds. The weeds were going to be burned and the wheat was to be put into the barn.

Matthew 13:36-43

There are a lot of people today who profess to be Christians. Throughout history, there were many people that were killed because one religion thought that other religions was wrong. It is not for us to say who is a Christian and who is not, but we are told that you will know a Christian by their fruits and as Christians we need to make sure we are bearing good fruit. The world should be able to tell a difference between a Christian and those that are not.

Reading Meeting

Luke 23:1-25

What can you say about a chapter like this?

The whole multitude of the chief priests and elders—those that should have recognized the Messiah—led our Lord to Pilate. The Lord was the One that led the Israelites through the desert, but now they lead Him to Pilate to be condemned to death. The irony! He had come that we might have life more abundantly, yet they planned His death as if they could totally kill Him. Unwittingly, though, they were fulfilling prophecies.

Once they got to Pilate, these men started accusing Jesus of various things. God knows everything, including our sin, and He could accuse us thoroughly if He wanted to. But this isn’t God dealing with man; what we have here is man dealing with God. They sinned in their very accusation of Him! They lied! They accused Him of perverting the nation, forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and calling Himself a king.

At least these men understood that Jesus considered Himself—and was—a king. At their council they had accused Him of calling Himself the Son of God, but that wouldn’t mean anything to Pilate, so instead they accused Him of setting Himself up as a king against Caesar. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king?” He couldn’t see anything kingly in this meek Nazarene, because the Lord’s kingly glories were hid while He was a man. Jesus basically told him, “Yes, I am a king.” Pilate told the rulers, “I find no fault in this man.” It was the first of three times that he declared the Lord’s innocence in this chapter. Jesus is the only man that never had any fault.

Of course, the rulers didn’t like that, so they got fierce and accused the Lord of stirring up the people. Jesus had attracted people and healed them, but not stirred them up. Pilate thought he had a way out of this messy situation when he heard the rulers mention Galilee. Understanding that Jesus was a Galilean, Pilate sent Him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. This made Herod glad, because had wanted to see Jesus for some time, and hoped to have Him do a miracle.

Herod didn’t think that our Lord was worthy of death, either, but the chief priests tried to persuade him and accused Jesus vehemently. Herod questioned Him for a long time, but our Lord gave no answer because of his behaviour. Psalm 28:1. Jesus answered Pilate, but He wouldn’t talk to Herod.

Jesus had lived His life perfectly, which is a contrast to all of these other men; yet He went through these trials as if He was a common criminal. How repulsive it all must have been to Him! Our Lord laid aside all His glory and let these men belittle, mock, play with, and make fun of Him.

Pilate and Herod became friends again over this affair with the Lord Jesus. What we’ve seem is the Lord’s first trial with Pilate and His trial with Herod. We can be thankful that God has allowed us to see more in Jesus than either Herod or Pilate did. What grace there is toward us!

Hymn 152—Brightness of the eternal glory

Prayer