October 14, 2018
Hymn 95 - I have a glorious Saviour Prayer
We’ve been following the story in Acts of the birth and growth of the Church here on Earth. It started in Jerusalem, the Jewish religious center. After Jesus died, rose, and ascended back to Heaven, the Holy Spirit came and indwelt the believers in Jerusalem. We’ve seen, though, how those believers spread out across Judea and Samaria because of persecution. There was a great revival in Samaria, where Philip the Evangelist was preaching, but right in the middle of it God told him to go to the desert.
Acts 8:26-31. Perhaps Philip didn’t want to leave his gospel campaign, but he obeyed the Spirit’s leading. He went to the desert, and was maybe sitting in the sand thinking, “Why am I even here?” But God had a plan.
Traveling through the desert was a eunuch from Ethiopia, who had gone to Jerusalem to worship. We’re not sure how he found out about the God of Israel, but he had heard of Him somehow. Apparently, though, he had not found all that he wanted in Jerusalem. He was a searching sinner and wanted to get right with God. He had been able to buy a scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, though, and was reading it as he went along.
God then commanded Philip to go join this chariot, and of course Philip obeyed. As he did this, he heard what the eunuch was reading and asked him, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” The eunuch asked back, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” And he asked Philip to come sit with him in the chariot. Next time we’ll see how this excellent evangelist presented the gospel to someone who had never heard it before.
Lord’s Day October 14, 2018
Reading Meeting
John 6:28-46
Quite an interesting question in verse twenty-eight. The Gospel isn’t what we do, but what we believe. Christianity is the only religion where the benefit doesn’t come by works. The question is very typical of people. Jesus’ answer probably wasn’t what they expected. Then they wanted to know why the should believe Jesus. The Lord had just provided bread for five thousand people, but they seemed to say that it was nothing compared to what Moses did in feeding millions of grumpy people for forty years. What they made out as a work of Moses, however, was a work of God.
Jesus told them how His Father would give them true bread from heaven. We find that the true bread of heaven is the Lord Himself. He calls it the “bread of God”. God enjoys it too. He delighted in His Son. He is satisfied, delighted, and joyful in the bread of God. It’s a figure of speech. We can find the same delight and satisfaction in the bread of God. It sustains life. Is the Lord this to us?
Now they all wanted the bread like the woman at the well wanted the water. But I think she understood the significance of it more then them. They hungered for something they didn’t understand. Jesus wanted their trust, belief and whole heart.
Verse thirty-seven brings in the two sides of the sovereignty of God. We know from Ephesians 1:4 that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Calvinists believe that if it’s set out who’s going to be saved and unsaved why wast your breath preaching. But we know that God tells us to go out and preach the Gospel. The other side says the we need to do everything to coax people into heaven. Mr. Hole says, “We don’t know”. God gives the increase when we preach. Preaching is our responsibility. We’re to leave the rest to Him. It such a divine concept it’s out of our reach. So much is still a mystery to us. Who can explain eternity or divinity? God is sovereign, but our will is tied up in a deprived nature. But it is a wonderful verse.
We are God’s gift to His Son. But what did Jesus have to pay for such a gift as us. No one is cast out; not even the chief of sinners. “That they might be saved” is His desire for all to come to know Him.
Hymn 310 Come to Jesus, come to Jesus
Prayer