October 29, 2017
Turn to Luke 15:20. We have been thinking about God’s boundless love. This is a three part parable. We read about 1) the lost sheep, 2) the lost coin, and 3) the lost son. The final parable is about the prodigal son. When he returned, his father saw him and ran to him. How could the father see him? He must have been looking for him, every day. That’s a great demonstration of the Father’s love for us.
Hymn 346 - Jesus who lives above the sky
Prayer
Last time we saw Peter deny the Lord, and before that we saw the six court cases that Jesus went through before going to the cross. Today, we’ll look at a happy story in the middle of the awful crucifixion. Jesus was crucified between two thieves, and one of them got saved. He asked the Lord, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” It reminds me of when Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom when the angels told them not to, and she turned into a pillar of salt. She was almost saved, but was lost. Here we have a thief who was almost lost, but was saved.
This story shows that you can be saved at the last moment. This man had wasted his life as a thief and couldn’t do anything to pay for his crimes. Jesus didn’t ask him if he had kept the law of Moses, though. He was able to save even someone who had wasted their whole life. This doesn’t mean that we should wait to get saved though! It’s like the story of the young man who went to a pastor and asked him, “When do you think is the best time to get saved?”
“Well,” said the man, “I would say the day before you die at the latest.”
“But how can I know that it’s the day before I die?” asked the young man.
“You can’t!” said the pastor, “Which is why I recommend that you get saved now!”
Luke 23:39-43. If we read in Matthew, we would see that both of these thieves mocked Jesus. The first doubted and said, “If you are what you pretend to be, get into action! If you’re the Christ, do a miracle and save us!” He was getting what he deserved, though, and the second thief knew it. He had mocked Jesus, too, but then he changed. “Why are you saying that? Don’t you fear God?” he asked his fellow thief. He knew that God was judge. “We’re getting what we deserve, because we’re criminals, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Grace had worked in his heart. He understood why they were dying, but why was Jesus dying? He hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe he realized that Jesus was doing it for him, and so asked Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
This man realized that this wasn’t the end. He knew that there was life after death, and that one day Jesus would be King. He knew that Jesus wasn’t a thief, but the Lord of glory. He would be a King in a kingdom some day. “When all power is yours,” this thief asked, “Please remember me.” He wanted God’s blessing at that point.
This man’s request is beautiful, but Jesus’ answer is even more beautiful. “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” That day they would go up to paradise! Jesus, in effect, said to this man, “You have done all that is necessary. You have seen yourself as unworthy, and have cried to me for blessing.” And so in the midst of that terrible crucifixion scene, they were already able to talk about Paradise.
These thieves had sin in them, but Jesus had no sin in Him. The bad thief still had sin on him when he died; but the “good” thief had no sin on him when he died. Jesus had our sin on Him when He died. It’s through that work that we can be saved; and the wonders of our Lord’s grace can still save us—if we turn to Him—even if we have wasted our whole lives in sin.
James 1:1-11
This James is the Lord’s brother. We also hear of him in Acts fifteen. F.B.Hole says that James is still saying, “Hearken unto me.” He also said that Martin Luther said that the book of James was straw, but he thought we need to listen to him because he writes with a sledgehammer.
Verse 2: If you’re preaching one thing and living another it’s called unfelt truth. We need to be careful, and pray that we give felt truth. I picture joy as an emotion; not like thankfulness which is a choice. It usually isn’t my first reaction.
Hebrews 12: 5b, 6, 11
If we go through trials with no joy we probably took it the wrong way. It doesn’t necessarily come right at the time of the trial, but if we learned from it and are exercised by it, then it should bring joy. They should be taken from the Lord and can bring us closer to Him. There is a story about a kite that was enjoying soaring through the air. What he wished, though, was that the boy flying him would let him go so he could go higher and see more. All of a sudden the string snapped and the kite fell to the ground. What he thought was keeping him down had been keeping him up. Sometimes we think if we got over this trial we could do so much as a Christian, but actually it’s drawing us closer to the Lord. The need for patience is certainly important. Impatience can make us step outside of God’s will for us. Darby translates patience as endurance.
This is written to the twelve tribes. It seems it was written early so not a lot of Gentiles had been brought in yet. It was around Stephens’s death so it’s more to the scattered Jews.
We think of James in Acts saying, “Men and brethren”, and people were brought to truth. Verses two and three are the same sentence, and we see the God tries our faith to produce patience.
Romans 5:2
Darby put rejoice as boast.
John 15:11
There are two types of joy in that verse. Through the work of Christ, joy is a precious aspect. Through Christ’s work we have the joy of eternal life. Joy is something God looks for in us at the same times He brings the trials.
James talks about wanting nothing; as in not lacking in character. Not even wisdom.
Hymn 342 - Jesus came form heaven
Prayer