October 17th - Priest and King

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Text – 6:9-15

Today we get to the end of eight visions, which were explained along the way, but here at the end it is going to tell us the major point of all of these visions. This passage we’re going to read today happened on the same night as the visions, but it’s not a vision, it’s God’s explicit word and command, and his interpretation of what we’ve read over the past seven weeks.

The book of Zechariah is hard to put in a box and tell exactly how to break it into sections. At the very least we can say chapter 1 is the introduction, chapters 1-6 are confirmation that God is working and does indeed care for his people, based largely in the past, chapter 7 is about the present, 8-12 is about the coming Messiah, and 13-14 are set in the End Times. Today we are transitioning from the past to the present for Israel. Their past is put away, they have the promise of a coming salvation, and all that stands before them now is new life.

Before we read it, let's talk a bit about Joshua. This is obviously not the same Joshua who followed Moses, this is quite a bit later. He is our High Priest of the day, and Joshua is actually a pretty common name. In Ezra it tells us that his name can also be pronounced Jeshua. In the first century, this was a hugely popular name, many children would be named Joshua, because it means "God Saves" it comes from Jehovah and Yasha, which is God and salvation. This would have been Jesus' name, through different languages we've seen it change to Isous, then to Jesus. It's not so important what you're calling Jesus as long as you're referring to the One who bled and died on a cross and was raised three days later. You can call him Immanuel, God with us, or Faithful and True, or the Way, the Truth, and the Life, or the Resurrection and the Life, or the Son of God, or the Son of man, or Isa in Arabic, or Joshua, or God manifest in the flesh, as long as you're referring to the Living and True God the Son. While we're on names, one of the neatest studies I ever did was on the names and titles of God, like Jahoshephat is "God the Judge", and Jehovah Nissi is "God our Banner", and Hallelujah is "Praise God."

We're going to see in Zechariah that Jesus Christ is prophesied by name, let's read it,

Zechariah 6:9-15 And the word of the LORD came to me: "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."' And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah. "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

So a little bit of context before we look at what this means; Israel has been in captivity for 70 years in Babylon. When allowed to come back, some didn’t want to come back, they had gotten too comfortable in Babylon. This can be easily allegorized to be people who are too in love with the world and sin to flee to Jesus Christ; when given the option of God or sin, they choose sin. Many Jews did not return but would die in a foreign land. When given the opportunity to come back, some did, among them were Zechariah the prophet, Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest. Remember that Zerubbabel is the one who started and will complete the temple, it’s important for this prophecy.

Other Jews didn’t come back at first, but later their consciences got the better of them, as well as the allure of a new temple, and they would return to Jerusalem and ultimately to God. One of the neatest stories is Nehemiah, who had a TOTALLY sweet job in Babylon, but forsook it to come and oversee the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

So what we’ve got here is a new caravan of exiles arriving in Jerusalem who were a little late in returning, but did come. They come bearing gold and silver for the sake of rebuilding the temple, but God has other plans.

v.9-10 And the word of the LORD came to me: "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah.”

These are the newly arriving exiles, Josiah must have been a metal smith living in Jerusalem, which is what many commentators guess, and that’s why Zechariah is to go to that house, he will take what is in verse 11.

v.11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown,

The silver and gold is meant for the temple, but God has bigger plans, to make one of the most amazing prophecies in the whole Old Testament for his Son. The word for crown is plural; most of our newer Bibles will only say crown, thinking the plural means two types of metal in one crown, but we’ll see in the New Testament that there are definitely plural crowns here, at least two, a silver and a gold one. Why two? I can’t say, except to probably denote two major offices of the one whose head it will be put on, or some think that gold represents the law and silver the nation; or maybe two crowns for two people? Let’s read on to see where these crowns will go.

v.11 and set them on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Here is where it gets crazy, not that both of these crowns are going on one man, but who that one man is. God is very clear that there is to be a high priest AND a king, but by putting the crown on the high priest, we are seeing that the high priest is the king! Twice in the Old Testament the king tried to do the duty of the priest, it didn’t turn out well for them,

2 Chronicles 26:18-19 They withstood King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God." Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense.

Likewise, Saul the King offered a sacrifice to God instead of waiting for Samuel the priest to do so, and in so doing Saul lost his entire kingdom. It’s a big deal that God has both a priest and a king, it works for the main reason of setting up a system of checks and balances, that one bad person won’t wreck the whole nation, but ultimately it is pointing to the purpose we see here in Zechariah, that God is predicting that his Messiah will be both the perfect King, and the perfect High Priest.

v.12 And say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place,

This Branch language was used a bit before:

Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.

So what we are seeing in Joshua wearing the kingly crown is that the Branch previously spoken of will be both High Priest and King. We remember from Isaiah too that Branch is prophesying that Jesus will be called a Nazarene, which is one Hebrew word for Branch.

Joshua would understand that he was not the Messiah, and also that he wasn’t the king, but that this is highly symbolic. This is also important for the next part of verse 12,

v.12 and he shall build the temple of the LORD.

Zerubbabel, the governor of Jerusalem, was actually the one who built the temple in Zechariah’s day, so we’re seeing something farther off in the future. Ezekiel, while in the Babylonian exile, had prophesied a much more amazing temple than the one which is being here built (chapters 40-47), so this coming Messiah is going to build a much more amazing temple, and Jesus clearly identifies himself here in John 2:19,

John 2:18-21 So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

So this is a definite prophecy for the coming Christ, that he will be both priest and king.

v.13 It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne.

God says it multiple times so that the hearers definitely get it, that there will be a High Priest as King, and King as High Priest. What is amazing here is both that the High Priest gets to sit on the King’s throne, but also that the High Priest gets to sit down at all.

Hebrews 10:11-12 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…

Of all of the things in the temple, from the lampstand to the table of showbread, to the altar of incense, to the mercy seat; the thing that was not present was a chair. The priests were always working, working, working, never able to rest because sins continued to be committed and need atonement. But Jesus Christ offered himself once for sin, then he SAT DOWN.

Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Now one more time for the crazyness of a priest sitting in the place of the king, God is going to assure us that this is in his plan,

v.13 And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."'

This both here is speaking of the offices, not two people, stating that there is no contradiction between a King being High Priest, so long as both are perfect and acceptable and pleasing to God. Beloved, this just could not be in the Levitical priesthood, they were not permitted to be kings, but there is a historical precedent for a king who is also a priest,

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

Salem is the old name for Jerusalem, do you see the etymological link? Jeru means new, salem means peace. Jesus Christ is not a priest after the order of Levi, who couldn’t be king, but a priest after the order of Melchizadek, which means, “King of Righteousness.”

Hebrews 7:14-16 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.

So we see that our Christ is both King, and our High Priest forever, made all the more glorious that no-one could have ever taken his life from him, but that he gave it up for our sake, rebuilding the temple of his body after three days, and living forevermore to make intercession for our sins!

v.14 And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.

This prophecy is pretty wild, not so much for us because we’ve seen it fulfilled perfectly, but for Zechariah’s original readers, so he tells them to hang up these crowns as a reminder of the coming Priestly King, and according to history, that they did. These crowns were probably lost in AD70 when the temple was destroyed, though we don’t have record of where these crowns have gone; however, we do know that they are fulfilled. Remember this point, we’ll come back to it in just a moment, first let’s make sure this prophecy is genuine.

v.15 "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Here we have a temporal check to see if Zechariah is genuinely being talked to by God or if he’s making it up, or if he had some bad pizza the night before. This last check will be for the people of Jerusalem to see if Zechariah is truly a prophet. If you want to find out if he really is, read Chapter 7 before next week, and that’s what we’ll look at. For our sake in the future though, we see that many peoples who are far off will come to our High Priest King, not just Jews, but someone from every tribe and nation.

So now, how do we know that this passage is talking about Jesus Christ? The New Testament tells us that it is, let’s read Christ’s Second Advent:

Revelation 19:11-13 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

Christ is wearing these crowns, diadems, many of them, representing his royalty, omnipotence, and his exalted state. The first time he came he wore a crown of thorns, representing shame, sin, impotence, and rejection, but because of his submission to his Father, he has received honor upon honor, and is crowned as the supreme King of the universe; read the next part,

Revelation 19:15-16 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

I really want to read two Psalms, I hope we have time. The first is a coronation Psalm which would be sung as the king of Israel is brought to power. Old Testament kings are given such grace as to be called sons of God, but we see that this beautiful Psalm is actually speaking of the true Son, the true King, so let’s read Psalm 2,

Psalm 2 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The second Psalm is Psalm 85, it speaks of Christ being the Branch, and him reconciling us to God through his work. For you see, we have a righteous God, and those who are unrighteousness cannot stand in his presence. But our God is also a merciful God, and he does not delight in the destruction of the wicked, and he has grace upon grace upon grace. But these two descriptions are utterly contradictory, a judge who lets a criminal go is not a good judge, and a father who crushes his children for their sins is not a loving person. So we have a conundrum; since we have sin, either God is a good judge, or a loving Father, but beloved, he cannot be both…unless something radical happens.

Psalm 85 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.

Here is where the two reconcile, Faithfulness springs up from the ground, even we may say, as a BRANCH, this is Christ, born of a woman, growing in stature and knowledge before God and man. Righteousness looks down from Heaven, this is the Father seeing his Son on a cross, one whom he has declared to be, “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Only now, beloved, God has made Christ to be sin for us, Christ bears our sin in his body, and God looking down does not see his beloved Son, but he sees the object of all of his wrath and anger; he sees the sewage of sin, the disgustingness of transgression; every lie, every covetous and lustfilled glance, every bit of malice, every curse word, every idle word, every bit of glory stolen, and beloved, the Father lets loose with his fury. It pleases him beyond measure to utterly crush his Son there on the cross, pouring out his full wrath against sin on the only Person who never deserved it, but who stood as a Faithful propitiation for those who trust in him, loving us long before we would ever love him, and us only loving him because he first loved us.

Faithfulness on the ground, Righteousness in Heaven, and beloved, there on that cross, justice and mercy met, righteousness and peace kissed each other. The contradictory ideas of God’s judgment and love came together in Jesus Christ, the wrath of God against Sin absorbed by the God of Love, so that he is now both the Just and the Justifier of those who believe.

For though that Temple of Christ’s body was destroyed, in three days it was rebuilt, and our great High Priest, having offered himself once for sin, SAT down at the right hand of his Father, waiting for a day in which to return when he will wear many crowns, and receive all of the glory, as every knee bows and every tongue confesses him as Lord to the glory of God the Father.

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all. – Edward Peronnet

July 18th - Psalm 62 - The Sola Psalm

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Text –Psalm 62

Since we’ve completed Second Peter and are still a few weeks away from welcoming the new sixth graders to class, I want to take a few weeks to look at some topical things. Do you have any questions that it seems like we never talk about? Which topics would you like us to look at?

Today we’re going to look at Psalm 62, which has been called the “only” Psalm because it talks about our hope being “only” on God. This is one of my favorite Psalms, but it’s not one that gets taught on a lot because it’s not really a stand-alone Psalm, it would be hard to give you a direct application from it, especially in one day, so today I’m going to teach it in relation to Second Peter. In order to understand how we got here, let’s do probably our last review of Second Peter.

In Second Peter it talks about how we know we are Christians trusting in the finished work of Christ, that the Bible being our sole authority on matters of God, it warns us of false teachers who do damage to the truth, and finally it gives us an assurance of victory by Christ.

In that assurance, are we supposed to just stand around gazing upward waiting for Christ? No, we are to be living lives of godliness and holiness, and Peter says we ought to be hastening the day.

So how can we hasten the day? By preaching the gospel. What did Peter say people would do with Paul’s writings to pervert the truth? They would twist his words to say things he didn’t mean. Let’s look at a good example before we get to Psalm 62.

Colossians 1:24-25 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known…

Paul literally says there is something that Christ’s suffering did not accomplish! This is utterly amazing and if it weren’t written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I would say it is blasphemy! But when we understand Second Peter, this makes perfect sense, Christ lived the perfect life and died for our sins, and was raised for our justification, but if we look at Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are saved by grace, through faith, then we see Jesus took care of the grace part in his death and resurrection, but the faith part must also be accomplished, which Jesus will do through his church.

This is one of the verses that gets twisted to destruction, many think that Christ did a lot, but he didn’t do everything, therefore we must work for our salvation. However, Paul is saying that Christ does everything, just in two different stages, first on the cross, and second through ministry.

At the time of the Reformation and at many other times throughout history, especially today, the church has added all sorts of weird works into salvation and have really added weird things to plain scriptural readings. So one of the reasons I chose Psalm 62 for today is because it is called the “only” Psalm, or for our purposes today, the “sola” Psalm, because it shows us that our hope is to be on nothing less than Christ. One of the reasons God did such a mighty work during the Reformation was because he set men’s affections solely on his word and the work of his Son. This has been summed up beautifully in six solas, and I want to teach them to you today because if you remember these six, you will have a very firm foundation in Christ for your entire life and ministry. Some people think some are more important than others, but they really come as a group.

They are:

1. Sola Scriptura
2. Sola Gratia
3. Sola Fide
4. Solus Christus
5. Soli Deo Gloria
6. Sola Sacerdos

Sola Scriptura

This means that scripture is our sole authority on God, that God does not speak apart from his word and doesn’t need to. Many false teachers today say that they receive “words” or messages from God, and they say, “Well check it against the Bible to see if God really spoke to me.” Verses in the Bible say that God no longer speaks but that we refer to the Bible, but if God were to speak and we checked it against the Bible and the Bible already said it, then we would have to ask why God said it again if it’s already in the Bible?

Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

It could be argued that this is the most important one because when you lose it, you lose all, but just holding to this one while ignoring the others would be disastrous.

Sola Gratia

This means we are saved by grace alone, not as the Mormons and Catholics believe that after everything we do then Christ will add the rest, or as antichristian preacher Joel Osteen says, “If you do your best, God will do the rest.” No, we bring nothing to the table, not a scrap of goodness, for even our best works are stained through with our sin like a clean white bandage laid on a gaping wound. We are not saved because of anything we’ve done, but in spite of everything we’ve done. Grace is unmerited favor, so anything we could add would make it merited and therefore it wouldn’t be grace anymore.

Galatians 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Sola Fide

We are saved by grace, and that is received through faith, and faith alone. If you jump out of an airplane with a parachute on, and you decide that instead of using the parachute, you’re going to flap our arms, you will face the consequences. The parachute is going to do the entire work of saving you from the effect of gravity. Once the parachute is deployed you can flap your arms, but it’s not going to add anything, and if we want to boast in our salvation then we have a very firm threat from God.

Romans 4:2-5 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

Solus Christus

Our salvation was purchased solely by Jesus Christ. His mother Mary is doing nothing to intercede for us, there are no men in Heaven who can give us merit they had left over, I cannot help to save you, it is totally Jesus Christ and his righteous life, propitiatory death, and life-giving resurrection which has reconciled us to God and given us a future and a hope.

Romans 4:22-25 That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Soli Deo Gloria

The effect of the Christian religion is not our sakes, though we gain a lot, it is for the glory of God. When we stand in Heaven we will not be able to say, “I am here because I’m so awesome…” we’ll gladly say, “I am here because Christ is so awesome. I had gone astray, I refused to seek Heaven, and Jesus Christ sought me and bought me and to him belongs dominion and victory and majesty and power and honor and glory forever and ever.”

Isaiah 43:25 I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Sola Sacerdos

This is the one that always gets left of. This means that Christ’s church is made up of one priesthood of believers, that there is no hierarchy of believers in his sight, but that we are all one in Christ Jesus. You had a direct line to God through your mediator Jesus Christ, your prayers are as efficacious as mine because they are filtered through Christ’s righteousness.

Galatians 4:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So all that to say, let’s read through Psalm 62 quickly and we’ll see that when we set our hope in God alone then we will see that ultimate victory when Christ comes to judge the world in righteousness, and that we will be in his favor instead of facing his wrath.

This Psalm is written by David, some people have tried to determine when this happened, many think it was when Absalom as trying to take the kingdom, and I see evidence for that, but ultimately David was in trouble so often from his enemies that this really can fit in many places in his life. We’re going to look at mostly how it relates to us.

Psalm 62 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
How long will all of you attack a man to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God, and that to you,
O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.

The word in Hebrew for “only” is ak, it’s a short little word, but it’s repeated six times in this Psalm. The first verse is cool because it shows us that David, who was under the Old Covenant, was trusting wholly in God. Many people think that under the Old Covenant people were saved by their works. But that’s crazy because the law hasn’t changed and it’s as impossibly holy today as it was then. Just as we can’t keep it because our wills are bound to sin, neither could David. In his great despair he reached upwards towards Heaven and was assured of salvation both from his sins, and from his enemies.

V3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

The writing in verse three is neat, and while you can’t see it in English in Hebrew it is associating both the attackers and the attackee as vulnerable and able to be toppled. The ESV doesn’t capture this very well, but David is saying that in leaning out to push him over, his attackers are about to be toppled.

V4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. Selah

David’s enemies, and ultimately Christ’s enemies, made the effort to pull him off his throne in order to enthrone themselves. Think of how many people today sing worship songs and say they love Jesus and then do things blatantly and without repentance that dishonor his name. Various other places in the Bible God expresses his disgust over people who claim to love him, but inwardly are filthy and unregenerate and his enemies. Jesus paraphrases Psalm really well in his beautiful parable of building a house:

Luke 6:46-49 "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

At the end of the verse is a Selah, which means pause here and think about whether or not you are honoring Christ in your actions or just with your words.

In the first stanza David says his soul waits on God, now he turns to talking to his soul and ours:

V5-8 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

The Selah here calls us to check ourselves to see if we are hoping in Christ, that he is our only hope of salvation and not anything else.

Verse 9 is going to tell us why we ought not to trust in ourselves:

V9 Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion;

None of us is closer to Heaven on our own than anyone else. We don’t trust in our genealogies or church membership or good name, because this verse literally tells us that they are a lie.

The Hindu religion would do very well to read this verse and take it seriously, because they operate under a caste system where they believe people are born into a Karmic level based on their past goodness and march towards Nirvana. So they see people who are princes and princesses are better people than beggars, and it is taboo for a beggar to seek a better lot in life because they are being punished for their past life… But if they would read this verse, that there is no such thing as a high estate, then they would see that they need to seek salvation in God, not in themselves, because they will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.

V9 in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

In order to understand this verse as the Hebrews would understand it you need to know that God’s glory is described by a word, Kbod, which means weightiness. The Kbod of a thing is how it stands up in a scale, a bowling ball has more Kbod than a feather. God’s Kbod is so magnificent that when our “good” deeds are weighed the scales go up as though they weren’t even there, lighter than air, in fact they even help the scales go in the opposite direction!

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the kbod of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

For those who trust in Christ though, we partake in Christ’s Kbod which is credited to our account through our faith alone.

V10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

I was reading an atheist recently who said if he can find one place where God is not perfect then he won’t be accountable on Judgment Day, which ironically is true, but we know that there is no place where God is not true. The atheist, who really there is no such thing, only angry delusional agnostics, was trusting in deceit instead of God. Our hope is not in robbery, but in Christ.

Now check this out, is being poor a sin? No. Is being rich a sin? No. IF riches increase, we don’t set our affections on them, but we know that if God gave us an increase it is so that we can share out of our abundance. God may very well give you billions of dollars in your lifetime so that you can do billions of dollars worth of good for his kingdom. But you won’t be able to say, “I should be allowed into Heaven because of how much money I spent on Christianity.” Rather, you will be allowed into Heaven on the grace of Jesus Christ.

V11-12 Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work.

We’ve got less time to spend on this than it deserves, but the important point of this psalm is not this verse, albeit there is a ton in this verse. God has spoken and we ought to pay extra close attention. We don’t read the Bible once through and then are done, rather we ought to read little bits every day, so that we are reminded that to God belongs the power and steadfast love, which is my Bible’s sort of weird translation of grace.

There is debate on what the last sentence means but the entire Psalm basically sums it up well for me, that for the one trusting in himself he will be judged for the merits of his work and be found wanting. For the one trusting in Christ he will be justified in Christ and given work to do for the kingdom, which we’ve seen in the past results in rewards of holiness and crowns both on this earth and in the world to come.

Luke 19:17,26 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.' 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

So in conclusion, trust wholly in Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross. His grace is the only thing that can save you, and we know that only through his Word, and the result is ultimately for his glory. Strive to be faithful in his work, not to earn your way to Heaven, but to glorify his name empowered by his Spirit, knowing that you have the priestly duty of proclaiming his excellencies, for he has called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

October 18th - The Pure Milk of the Word

Prayer Requests
Dan + Leon Preaching
Fall Festival Results
Pastor Carey Cash

Giles, York, and Miano's in their family losses this week

James' friend Aaron move to Pennsylvania

Text - 1 Peter 2:2-3

Short Lesson, Hannah did the introduction, and we had missionaries visit from the fifth grade.

The verse we are going to read and look at today is a continuation of chapter one, especially the idea of being born again. So some review, our earthly life mirrors our spiritual life.

Conception – Seed Planted (1 Corinthians 3:5-6)
Gestation – Seed Growth/Danger of no Birth (Galatians 4:19)
Birth – Rebirth (1 Peter 1:3)
Newborn – Spiritual Babes (Hebrews 5:13, 1 Peter 2:2)
Adolescence – Maturing (Hebrews 5:14)
Maturity – Able to Minister to Souls (Hebrews 5:12)

There needs to be a direction to this, if you stop moving towards maturity for any lengthy period of time that is not good, the important thing is that there is a progression. Peter's Epistle mirrors this progression, he starts the letter out by talking about being born again and he concludes talking to the elders. How do we get from being newborns to elders?

1 Peter 2:2-3 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

What does a baby want when it is first born? Steak? Coca-Cola? Pepperoni Pizza? Or the pure milk from its mom?

Does it have any desire for anything else? Nope, because the milk is what it needs. What happens if you try to give a newborn a potato chip? They don't want it, they know what they need.

So a newly Reborn Christian is told to do what by Peter? Desire the pure spiritual milk. Let me give you a personal example, after I got saved, I had two weeks off from work because I had just returned from the middle-east, where you get to save up all of your weekends, and so I read the Bible from cover to cover in those two weeks. I missed a lot of things, but it gave me a great foundation of Christianity.

This milk contains all sorts of incredible things that most food doesn't have, and is super concentrated. First of all, it is heavy in omega-3, which is a fatty acid that is fantastic for brain-growth. You can eat fish and get this same stuff, but you won't get the same benefit as the baby, because the milk also comes with this stuff called "lipase" which is an enzyme that greatly helps the baby digest the omega-3 so that more of it goes into its brain.

This is just like the Bible, where is the best place to grow your spiritual knowledge? It's from reading straight from God's Word. I can teach it to you, and while I hope you're getting a lot out of this class, I'm certain there is a lot of stuff you're missing too...this is just how our brains work, God wants us to seek him, not somebody talking about him. Similarly, the Bible, when it is interpreted for you by the Holy Spirit will be much more absorbed into your brain.

Next, milk has very specific proteins in it that are perfect for the baby's body to absorb to make stronger bodies and better immune systems. This milk is completely absorbed and used because it is made for the body. On the other hand, cow's milk has protein in it, but it is so hard for your body to get out that what your body gets from cow-milk protein isn't enough to replace the protein it took to get it. It's like me buying a $1 bill from you for $5. You don't drink cow's milk for the protein, but for the vitamins.

That goes straight to the Bible. The Bible contains things that your spiritual life can totally use. On the other hand, you read a book by a great preacher, or hear a great sermon or lesson, and the spiritual truths may be great and true, but the effort the preacher spent to get that truth to you took forever in research and prayer. A preacher should be giving you application along with your truth, these are the reasons we listen to preachers who ought to be exhorting.

Next, milk has huge amounts of sugar in it, that makes it taste good for the baby. This also makes it easier to digest.

In Seminary, they make you read up to three books a week, and while some of these books are really good, when you read the Bible after that, you realize that God's Word is so much sweeter than mans' words.

There is more, according to a Dr. Frank Oski who is a leading pediatrician for Johns Hopkins Medical School, there are at least 400 reasons milk is better than formula or baby food, but those are the really neat ones I thought, plus one more that I think is fantastic. Milk has natural antibacterial agents in it that kills bad germs (not all germs are bad), but doesn't kill babies. While you have to boil bottles and keep baby food sealed, milk is ready to go from the source.

Chapter 1 of First Peter talked about how we are being refined, through trial and obedience, but that we have eternal life. The Bible kills sin and purifies us, but won't kills us...there is an if coming up...

v.3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

None of these promises are for unbelievers, people who have not been born-again, but only for the believer.

So where is Peter telling us to look for spiritual growth? The Bible. Let's see where he got this quote in verse three from.

Hmm, it seems to be the Bible; one of the reasons I picked these Epistles to go through is because they quote the Old Testament like crazy. First Thessalonians didn't quote it a single time, so I felt it would be good to look at an Epistle that quotes and/or alludes to the Old Testament a ridiculous number of times.

Peter is quoting Psalm 34:8, this is an absolutely wonderful Psalm, maybe my favorite, and also maybe Peter's favorite because he quotes it several times and holds close to its themes. The verse here that Peter quotes wasn't just stated, I believe it was an emotional outburst,

Psalm 34:8-11 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

The taste the Lord directly relates to the spiritual milk, what happens if you try to feed a baby something that isn't spiritual milk? He's going to spit it out, because he knows there is something so much better. The same with someone who has seen the perfection of God, the absolute pleasure that comes from knowing him, from resting in his grace and finding refuge in his mercy. Imagine someone came to us and said, "I will give you each a trillion dollars if you will never talk about Jesus ever again or pray or use this money for any Christian endeavor. You can do whatever you want with it, as long as the cause of Christ is not furthered." Our response should be, "Ew, are you serious, that is the last thing in the world I want, because my desire is the Living God, he is what I want." That would be your response if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

I believe I started out on the right track, I didn't have Christian books or teachers around to corrupt me or get me caught on something else, I had the pure spiritual milk of the Word. This is one reason I get so defensive when somebody talks about the myth of Free-Will, or say to get saved you "ask Jesus into your heart", or any number of goofy things. We add these manmade things and it takes the sweetness out of the Bible.

I think one of the reasons the Christian church is so caught up in other things is because when someone gets saved, they don't go to the Word, but they go to Sunday School or church or books about how to be a Christian while neglecting the Bible. Look at America, we know that we ought to eat healthy, but we love things that taste good to us, the Bible has never been shown to most Christians to be so sweet and so good and so good for us.

So the application is straightforward. Love this book, read this book, find how great and glorious God is through this book, so that you progress in your Christian life, moving from spiritual rebirth to being an elder, and never stop progressing. Christian teachers, books, and sermons are wonderful, but they are not the Bible. Your main diet should be from this Bible and things on top of it should treats or snacks.

Finally, how many times do you eat a day? Two? Three? Six? What happens if you skip a few days? You get weak, you pass out, you die... How many times do you read your Bible a day? Ever skipped a few days? A few weeks? A few months?

Don't get me wrong, you can't lose your salvation by not reading your Bible, but if you're not subsisting on your Bible, then your spirit probably isn't alive in need of nourishment, but is still dead in sins and transgressions. What do the dead eat? If there is no Bible-input, then it is likely that the spirit is dead, and the need is to be spiritual raised so that you taste that the Lord is good.

August 9th - Ascending the Hill of the Lord

Prayer Requests
Jellybean Snyder
Crandall/McDonald Family for Dale's going Home
New School Year
New Middle School Curriculum (It rocks)
Preaching KSU
Whoever’s Preaching

Text – Psalm 24

Welcome to class.
Class Archive Website: http://netwetters.blogspot.com/

About me; my name is Canyon Shearer, I’m 27 years old. I am in the Air Force, and I work on F-22’s. I am going to Seminary at Liberty University and will graduate with my Master of Divinity in December. I am Summit’s volunteer pastor of evangelism.

You can call me Mister, Sergeant, Pastor, Sir, or just plain Canyon. One of the reasons I don’t require you to use a title is because I would rather think of you as young adults than children, and I will give you my utmost respect and hope you will do the same.

I can be reached at 928-606-6906 or truthintext@comcast.net. I work in a classified area, so can’t have my phone at work, so e-mail or facebook is the best way to get in touch with me.

My teaching style is somewhat different than a lot of middle-school teachers, I’m not big on games or goofiness, but rather I like to spend most of the class in the Bible, letting it speak for itself. God esteems his Word higher than we can possibly imagine, so I request and require reverence towards the Bible. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. There is an answer to every question, so please don’t hold back.

So let’s begin. I’m of the opinion that you can find Jesus Christ in every narrative in the Bible, which means we should be able to preach redemption from every part of the Bible. Today I want to take you to one of my favorite sections of scripture, Psalm 24.

This is the twenty-fourth of 150 Psalms in the Book of Psalms. David wrote most of these, with six other writers. He wrote Psalm 24. This Psalm is a sister-psalm of Psalm 15, which is instructions on who can bring the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple, and how they are supposed to do it. I believe these two psalms were written after it was done wrong and Uzzah died for it.

1 Chronicles 13:10 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

On our side, this Psalm has a lot more to do with Heaven and Jesus Christ than the physical Ark of the Covenant, but when the Israelites would first read this, they would realize that they were under grace to be able to move the Ark, and that they weren’t just moving a gold box around, but were representing the glory and mercy of God. The Ark of the Covenant was replaced when Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, and we see that the ultimate mercy seat was the tomb where his blood poured out. The Ark of the Covenant had two angels sitting on either side with their wings meeting in the middle. The blood of sacrificed lambs was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and this made a covering for sins. When Christ was sacrificed, we see that he poured out his blood once for all as the atonement for sins.

John 20:12 She saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

Let’s see why we needed him to do that.

Psalm 24:1-2 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

We’re setting a precedent here, that the world belongs to God, and everything and everyone in it. He gets to make the rules, he gets to run things, he is in charge. This might not be a good thing if he weren’t totally holy, totally good, and totally worthy of this position. Everything that God does is right.

But where does he get this authority? It’s because he is the Creator and Sustainer of the planet. A little over 6000 years ago, God created the world out of nothing, he spoke it into existence. At first he created it as just water, but in the water he spoke land into existence. From here he created the fish and the fowl, the animals and the plants, and above us he created all of the stars and galaxies. Then he created Adam and Eve and put them in the paradise of the Garden of Eden. And everything was good.

But what happened? They sinned against God, they desired to be God so much that they took the only avenue available to them, which was eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the only thing forbidden for them to do in all of the world, and they did it. The consequences were dire, death entered into the world through sin. It affected not only Adam and Eve, but all of the world, and even the universe, where we see stars supernova and die.

God, in his mercy, saw that everlasting sin would be bad, so he forbid Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Life, which was right next to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and he drove them out of the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:22-24 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

What’s the angel there for? To keep sinners away from the Tree of Life.

Let’s look back at Psalm 24 real quick.

Psalm 24:3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?

This can refer to four places, first the Garden of Eden in Adam and Eve’s day, then Sinai with Moses, then the Temple in David’s day, and finally Heaven in our day. Something interesting though, there were no hills or mountains in Adam and Eve’s days, something big had to have happened between them and us. Anybody know?

A flood; God saw that the imaginations of men were only evil continually, and so he decided to destroy all life on earth. He chose Noah and his seven relatives to survive, through an Ark to likewise save two of every type of animal. Then the fountains of the earth burst forth and it rained for forty days, and all life on earth, save for those safe in the Ark, was drowned. The Garden of Eden likewise was destroyed, but before that happened, God moved that Tree of Life, and I suppose also, the angel who guarded it, to Heaven.

Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

From the flood, we have many of the fossils we see today, billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth. Our oil deposits are the old foliage crushed under millions of tons of earth. And here is where we get our mountain that we’re going to talk about.

Psalm 104:5-9 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

So for us this is referring to Heaven, this is how to get in.

Psalm 24:3-6 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

Who shall get into Heaven? Those with clean hands and a pure heart. Christ quoted this in his Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

But we have a problem, if we’ve sinned, we don’t have a pure heart.

Ezekiel 16:30 How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things…

Likewise, if you’ve cursed or taken God’s name in vain, this shows the condition of your heart.

Matthew 15:11 It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.

Psalm 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

Psalm 139:20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!

Remember what this hill would have referred to in Moses day? Sinai. What would happen if we approached Heaven, approached that angel, if we had loved anything more than God, or sworn, or lied, or had a defiled heart or hands?

Exodus 19:12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, 'Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

God is holy, he is without sin, and he cannot tolerate sin. If you approach him with sin in your heart you will die. It’s the same way the sun can’t tolerate an ice cube that God can’t tolerate sin.

Exodus 19:21 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.”

The final word in this passage is Selah. This word means, pause, it means we should stop and think about what we’ve just heard. So let’s pause for about a minute and think about which sins we may have committed that would keep us from ascending the Hill of the Lord.

Ravi Zacharias was once invited to an ecumenical council where multiple religions were trying to figure out if they were as different as history has shown them to be. The consensus of the council was that there were many paths up the hill to God, and each religion was on its own path. But we see from this Psalm, that if you so much as touch the Hill of the Lord as a sinner, you’re gonna die. Ravi looked at them all and asked, “Has your God ever come down the mountain?”

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, stepped out of Heaven, he left it all behind. He put on flesh, born of the virgin Mary, sent by his Father, to live a perfect life. He was tempted in every way, yet without sin. Then he willingly went to the cross to pay for all of the sins that we had committed.

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

What are the requirements to go to Heaven? A pure heart and clean hands. Check out this description of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 7:26-27 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

He can ascend the Hill of the Lord, he is worthy. Let’s look at the gates of Heaven. The gates of Jerusalem and Heaven didn't open like doors, it was a massive portcullis, which is lifted up into a housing. It is tremendously strong and no army would be foolish enough to try a direct attack against it. Revelation tells us that the housing was made of pearl.

Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

Three days after Jesus died, he did something astonishing, he defeated death, and he reigns forevermore. After he showed himself to over 500 witnesses, he ascended into Heaven. In order to get into Heaven, he had to approach the gates. No-one in history had done that, for no-one ever in history was qualified to come to these gates. The setting is the gates of Heaven, a man stands without, an angel guards within and here is the conversation that ensues. Here is the end of the Psalm, I’m going to dramatize it a bit as to how I think it happened.

Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

The Angel of the Gate, whose duty it is to keep men and sin out of Heaven challenges,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

And the Angel, reaching for his flaming sword, furious that someone would try to get into Heaven by claiming to be on the side of God, challenges again,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

And beloved, you better believe those gates were opened up.

Revelation 21:25-27 And its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

So beloved, we see that the earth is God’s, and everything in it. He makes the rules, he cannot tolerate sin, and sin will not be allowed into Heaven. If you’ve ever sinned, then you are counted an enemy of God and will be excluded from Heaven. But to demonstrate his love for you, Jesus Christ stepped out of the mansions of glory to die in your place, crushed by his holy Father. He has defeated death, and opened Heaven’s gates to you, so I implore you to be reconciled to God, receive the righteousness and blessings of his Son through repentance and faith, and be welcomed into the Joy of your Lord.

Finally, the response, look at how David responded, the author of Psalm 24.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Do you know the way?

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Flee to the Son, repent of your sins, trust in him to save you, and he will lead you on the path to Heaven, and finally, here is how you will have clean hands and a pure heart.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Questions?

Something I want to do differently this year is optional homework. I’m not doing this for me, but hopefully to help you remember the lesson and get more out of it. For every five assignments you turn in, you’ll get something...probably a $5 gift card or something, we'll do our best to make it worth your while, but whatever it is, the lesson you'll learn will long outlast the reward.

This week’s assignment will be posted on the website, for all of these the length should be at least a half-page single spaced, the maximum length is however long you want to go. There is no limit to how long before you turn it in, like I said, it’s not for me, but for you to help remember the lesson.

Homework

Find three verses regarding holiness as a requirement to go to Heaven. Write at least two sentences for each verse considering why righteousness/goodness is important. When we refer to Jesus Christ as “Goodness Gracious”, how does that relate to these verses?

June 14th - Eternal Rewards II

Prayer Requests
Camp! Whoohoo!
John Gillis Preaching
Sarah and Tyler going to China

Praise
Your Youth-Pastor and His Wife

Text – Psalm 73

Real quick, what’s going on in Thessalonica? They’ve gotten a letter from someone claiming to be Paul saying they’ve missed the rapture. If they’ve missed Christ’s return, then they are probably thinking the same things we’re going to talk about today.

Since Dave and Channing and others are going through Psalms this Summer, and in order that a passage in Second Thessalonians falls on the right day that I want to teach it, today we’re going to look at a Psalm that I very much enjoy, Psalm 73, on the excellence of serving God.

How many Psalms are there in the Book of Psalms? 150.
How many authors? 7.

Most of these Psalms were written during David’s day and by David, it was an age of great music and writing. Besides that, other authors include Moses (Psalm 90), the Sons of Korah, which was likely a musical group, Solomon (Psalm 72, 127), Heman, and Ethan.

The one we’re going to look at today is Asaph. Asaph wrote twelve psalms, he was David’s chief music minister. His position was like Jimmy’s, only instead of like Jimmy serving Pastor Aaron, Asaph’s position was right under the king of the nation.

Everyone please turn to Psalm 73. The introduction to this Psalm says this: “A Psalm of Asaph.” These introductions were included to sort of give us an idea of what these Psalms would be used for and how they should be sung. A psalm is a song, and many argue that it should have a rhythmic recital. Psalm 73 doesn’t come with a lot of instruction, only telling us that it’s original purpose was to be sung.

Just to show you some others, look at Psalm 74. This one is called a Maskil, which means it is a teaching Psalm, mainly for the purpose of reminding hearers something about themselves and instructing about God. There are a lot of titles in the Psalms telling how it should be sung, without spending too much time on each one, here they are:

Alamoth – Sung in a high key; some have argued that this should be a girls-choir
Sheminith – Sung in a low key
Gittith – A Joyous Psalm, lots of powerful instruments in the background
Mizmor – This is not a rhythmic psalm, but more of a flowing psalm, accompanied by instruments
Neginah – To be accompanied by stringed instruments
Mahalath – To be accompanied by high-pitched instruments
Nehiloth – To be accompanied by high-pitched instruments and a high-pitched choir
Menazzeh – Administrative, this type of psalm is used for coronations, dedications of temples, and other official events
Maskil – Didactic, specifically for teaching

These can intersect a lot.

So that’s way more introduction than we probably needed, but the purpose of a psalm is often important when we start to read it. Each psalm talks about one major topic; these songs are pretty much a holy version of what we hear today; very few songs try to cover more than one topic, and neither do psalms. The purpose of Psalm 73 is to show that service to God is never wasted.

Lets read it, it’s broken into three parts, and introduction of the problem, a revelation of the solution, and an application:

Psalm 73
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Asaph, whether recounting his personal testimony, or that of someone else, even David, starts out by introducing the problem,

Psalm 73:1-3
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

God has historically been good to Israel by calling them out of captivity, giving them land, prosperity, protection, and a lot of things, but Asaph wonders, “What has God done personally for me?” We might say the same thing…God has historically been good to the church, but what has he done personally for me? Asaph is going to go on further to say, “I’m not rich, I’m not particularly happy, I’m not well fed, my body aches, some people don’t like me…what’s the point?” He says this by pointing out the seemingly peachy lives of those whom don’t honor nor fear God.

Psalm 73:4-14
For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.

Asaph sees that the wicked live long painfree lives and die peacefully in their beds. They boast in themselves, they make their profits on the pain of others. I talked to a baseball player once who said that since his success was his own doing, he didn’t need to thank God for it. Beloved, how conceited this is to use the machine of our bodies given to us by God and fail to give him the credit.

Example – I picked up a cup and pointed out how incredible picking up that cup is. Science would love to be able to make a machine that was so sensitive to be able to pick up something so fragile as a cup. It is very difficult to build a machine that grips the cup and is able to lift it without crushing the cup.

This psalm contains one of my favorite verses for open-air preaching. I tweak it just a little to say, “When you take the name of the Lord your God in vain, you set your mouth against Heaven, you declare war on the God who made you.” (See Psalm 139:20) Think about how ludicrous it is for any person to declare war on God, it’s even more ridiculous than if one of the young ladies in this class called up the Secretary of Defense and declared war on America.

And you remember from James 3 that our tongue leads our whole life; that out of our mouth our heart professes. If my mouth declares war on Heaven, then my heart must be pretty dark and foolish.

Asaph then goes on to say that because of the prosperity of the wicked, the people of Israel turn back to the ways of the world. If the world seeks instant gratification, and the wicked have instant gratification, then they have to find a way to deny God in order to appease their conscience. They ask, “How can God know?” Oh beloved, this is so idolatrous, our equivalent is asking, “Can God really know everything I do all the time? I mean, there are 7 Billion people and he knows them all?” Oh idolatry! It denies the sovereignty of God; beloved, I promise you, God knew you before you were, he ordered your steps, he knows not only everything you do, but also everything you think, he knows the number of the hairs on your head, and he knew how many steps you will take in your life. Do you know how many steps you’ve taken today? God is just a bit smarter than you and I.

But in order to do whatever we want, we have to outright deny God’s omnipotence.

Asaph gets a little mad at this point…the more wicked someone is, the richer and better off they seem in their lives…he basically says, “Everything I’ve done towards holiness was for nothing! In fact, everything I’ve done for God has made my life worse!”

Asaph says he almost started preaching this, but first he went to the temple, read the writings of Moses, and discerned the will of God.

Psalm 73:15-22
If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

Asaph sees what their end is…Hell, because God despises them. Some people in Jesus’ day said there was no resurrection, no Hell, no Heaven, no afterlife, and Jesus pretty much calls them stupid for not knowing their Old Testament. We don’t need to see the word Hell, it is described here. The life of the wicked may be peachy, but their end is utterly terrible, destruction, ruin, eternal hatred by God, separation from the only source of good and love.

Oh wow. I imagine Asaph must have gasped when he realized this. He despised himself for his arrogance in questioning God, in wishing he had the life of the wicked, because their end is the end of demons. We’ll talk more about the end of demons in our second lesson on Second Thessalonians in three weeks.

Psalm 73:23-28
Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

We haven’t looked at many other verses during this study, but we need to look at

1 Timothy 4:7-8 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

You’ll never go wrong in reading your Bible, telling people about the wonderful works of God, discerning the will of God: that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. He is continually with us, holding our right hand so that when and if we fall, he will lift us up, because he has ransomed us on Calvary’s cross in order to present us holy and blameless on the last day.

The glory that is to come, the glory that is found in Christ, is so much greater than any piddly pleasure or possessions you might find on here earth. And even better, Heaven lasts forever.

So as we head off for camp, spend the week in prayer, in serious study of the Word of Life, in seeking the will of your Saviour, in desiring to know him and find your whole portion in him, forever.



Prayer
Two things we ask of you;
deny them not to us before we die:
Remove far from us falsehood and lying;
give us neither poverty nor riches;
feed us with the food that is needful for us,
lest we be deny you
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest we be poor and steal
and profane the name of our God. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

March 15th - Imprecations

Prayer Requests
Channing Preaching
National Revival – Harvesters for the Fields
Sarah Going to China
Olivia Kissinger in the Hospital
Tracy's Thumb
Daniel's Friend's Family
Missy and Randy Health/Jobs

Text – Psalm 94

I prayed long and hard about this topic, not knowing if I should teach it, and I actually wrote a whole other lesson plan…but then on Saturday Dave asked if I could teach the High Schoolers too, and that was an undeniable answer to my prayer, because the passage we’re on in First Thessalonians would make very little sense to you without reading at least the rest of chapter 5. We’re going to be talking about a different kind of prayer today, but I encourage you to keep track of prayers you pray, because I believe you’ll be amazed at how many of them are answered. There is something important going on in the battle for America, and one that we have to look at motives and the Bible to find the truth about what is happening. It doesn't really have anything to do with 1 Thessalonians...

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge"…

The guy in the White House, Barack Obama, lifted a ban on funding Stem-Cell Research in Embryonic Stem-Cells this week. I want you guys to know what this means and why it is so stupid for the government to be doing this and that it isn’t really a matter of science, but them proving how much they hate the Living God.

There are four kinds of stem-cells that we’ve discovered so far. Three of these are very good and there never has been a ban on them, one of these is sinister and was banned because it kills a person.

So first, what’s a stem-cell? It’s sort of the construction worker of your body. Are any of your dads construction workers? My dad is, and since he is, I know there are two kinds of construction worker. There is the kind that builds things from scratch, and there is the kind that fixes things after they are built. My dad has done both jobs, and so can all stem-cells do both jobs, but they have specialties.

A stem-cell can replace pretty much any cell in your body, say a nerve gets damaged, a new stem-cell comes in and fixes that nerve. The same stem-cell can replace a muscle cell, or a skin cell, or a liver cell, they are able to do all sorts of jobs, but once it has decided what it is going to be, that is what it is going to be.

Stem-Cells
Amniotic – Taken from the placenta after a baby is born, nobody dies
Umbilical – Taken from the umbilical cord after a baby is born, nobody dies
Marrow / Adult – Taken from a person’s very own bone marrow, nobody dies
Embryonic – Taken from a baby before it is born, the baby dies

Amniotic and Umbilical stem-cells have shown some promise, healing some basic ailments, but the Adult cell, which is the common name for this type, has shown the most promise. These three types are the fixers.

Embryonic stem-cells have never healed anybody, and in tests in lab-rats they cause cancer instead of healing. These are the builders and they have no interest in fixing things, theirs is to make human beings, not fix problems in human beings.

Yet Barack Obama and other God-haters love the embryonic stem-cell and this is where they want to put all of their money. It is foolishness beyond foolishness. Michael J. Fox wants money to be put into this hopefully so he can be healed of his Parkinson’s Disease, yet he’s going exactly the wrong direction and will suffer the consequences.

Proverbs 8:35-36 For whoever finds [wisdom] finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.

In conclusion, Adult stem-cells are awesome, nobody has to die, they are an incredible gift from God. If we put more money into this research, we will see diabetes go away, paraplegics and quadriplegics walk again, and even many forms of cancer healed. Embryonic stem-cells are stupid, they have no potential, and it is the murder of a baby, and God will judge those who are so happy to destroy human life.

Questions?

In First Thessalonians there is a verse talking to the church at Thessalonica, who has been persecuted like crazy, and Paul tells them this:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul tells this church straight out that the persecution they are going through is God’s will for them. You can’t surprise God, he knew that Barack Obama was going to end up in the White House and within two months was going to sign bills that encouraged the killing of babies. The last time the High School was in here we looked at a verse in Isaiah 57 about Israel killing their babies, lets look at another one in 2 Chronicles 33, everybody turn, please.

A little history, Israel and Judah had some very wicked kings, Saul, Hezekiah, Amon, to name a few, but nobody could outsin Manasseh, lets read what he did:

2 Chronicles 33:1-6 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever." In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

He sacrificed his sons in the fire. Whenever things get really bad in the Old Testament, you can usually find babies getting killed. But we know from First Thessalonians, as well as many, many other places, that God is in control. Lets look at two real quick,

Lamentations 3:37-39 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?

Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

And my favorite,

Amos 3:6-7 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

There are so many more we could look at, Romans 1, John 3:27, the whole book of Revelation…but do you get the point? It is God’s will that what is happening is happening, and therefore we better be paying attention to the lesson he is teaching us.

God created the world for four major purposes:
First is the creativity and power of God; he created an infinitely big universe where no star, no human being, no snowflake is exactly the same as another.
Second is to show us how bad sin is, that it has led to the death of everything, that it causes unbelievable suffering, and that it is contagious.
Third is to show us that good can only come from God, and apart from God, not even the angel Lucifer can put together a working planet, having been labeled the ruler of this world. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out that Lucifer is not purposefully evil but is trying his hardest to make earth a godless utopia.
Fourth is to put these three together; it shows how amazingly good and genius God is, that he is capable of saving us from sin but only by willingly going to the cross and taking our punishment, then showing his power by defeating death and bestowing his goodness on us.

I want to focus on the second, that God is demonstrating to us how bad sin is and why he hates it. I always have to share Psalm 11:5 when talking about this,

Psalm 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Just as it is foolish for me to hate the bullet but love the assassin, it is foolish for God to hate the sin but love the sinner. He has an abiding hatred towards his enemies, but a lovingkindness that he sent his Son to absorb the wrath they deserved, so if they’ll repent and believe the Gospel, they will be saved. It is our duty as Christians to hate sinners and enemies of God, but Romans 12 is very clear that we are to leave all vengeance up to God. That leads into where I’ve been driving: imprecations.

What is an imprecation? It is a prayer asking God to pour out his vengeance on someone. 90 of the 150 Psalms contain imprecations, and that is certainly not the only place they are found. Peter Hammond, a missionary to South Africa, kept tract of imprecatory prayers that were being prayed against evil leaders, and many, many of them died. I’ve included a link on the website if you’d like to do a follow-up: http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/praying%20for%20justice.htm

You guys know I love history, so lets look into the past. In the mid-1500’s John Knox began his ministry as a Catholic priest in Catholic Scotland, but then his friend George Wiseheart, and Englishman and Protestant, was sent from King Henry to Mary, Queen of Scots to arrange a marriage between Anglican England and Catholic Scotland. Wiseheart was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church just for proposing that Catholic Mary would marry a non-Catholic. Reform was sweeping Europe and somehow or another John Knox got saved, the details are fuzzy, but it sounds like Knox was saved listening to Wiseheart open-air preach. Anyway it happened went to visit with John Calvin in Geneva. While here he became a radical reformer and headed back for Scotland, his most famous quote is, “Give me Scotland, else I die!”

He stood against Mary, Queen of Scots, admonishing her to her face, and repeatedly bringing her to tears. She said, “I fear the imprecations of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

Her consort, Henry, banned Knox from preaching in his presence, but that didn’t stop Knox from preaching. He would preach to his congregation, then he would go outside and preach to anybody and everybody that would listen. During this time he continued to try to convert Mary and Henry, as well as praying against their efforts to suppress the Reformation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Scottish Christians would die by their decree. Knox would pray Psalms against Mary, and apparently Henry went so far as throwing at least part of her Bible into the fire, this was at a time when Bibles cost in excess of $50,000 in todays money.

Knox confronted Henry and said, “Have you, for the pleasure of that dainty dame, cast the psalm-book into the fire? The Lord shall strike both head and tail.” Mary and Henry would both die painful deaths.

So, I want to look at a prayer the Psalmist wrote against some very wicked people. We don’t know for sure who wrote this Psalm, I believe fairly strongly that it was David, but ultimately who is the Author? God.

Psalm 94:1-3,20-23 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs—O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?...Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by law? They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

We are fully and totally authorized to pray imprecations against enemies of righteousness. We should be asking God to either grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, or for him to crush them out of existence so that sin can no longer abound. In this we will be conformed closer and closer to an image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a GREAT verse to commit to memory:

Hebrews 1:8-9 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

And what is the fruit of Knox’s prayers? After Mary and Henry fled Scotland, later to be executed in England, Scotland saw a massive return to the Living God. Knox birthed the Presbyterian Church and greatly furthered the Reformation. Mary, Queen of Scots would have a son, his named was James VI of Scotland. Does anyone know his other name? James I of Great Britain, he was the first legitimate king of the whole of Britain, and he was a great friend of John Knox, thoroughly protestant.

What is his crowning achievement? In 1604 he realized that there were a lot of translations of the Bible and none of them were really good in English. He commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible, otherwise known as the King James Version, or as Dave calls it, the King Jimmy Bible. This was the Bible of choice for over 300 years, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Charles Spurgeon would preach out of this Bible, to name a few.

It is still a really good Bible, but since it was written four-hundred years ago it’s not really in our language anymore, which is why we have the ESV Bible, the NIV, the NASB, the HCSB, and the NKJV which are all good Bibles.

So, to switch gears just slightly. Sarah is going to China. In China they have a similar problem, their Bible was translated in 1919 and it’s not really in the language they speak anymore. In 2007 a brand new translation was completed at great expense and is supposedly a very good Bible, but it is not yet legal to sell this Bible in China. Sarah, I don’t have very many details, but I implore you to take at least one new Bible into China with you and leave it, if not a few. I have no idea what the laws are, but I know you’re allowed a personal Bible.

There is a massive revival going on in China, there are more Christians in China than in America. They are working on a huge missionary outreach between China and Jerusalem. The greatest thing we can do is pray, both for them, and for God to raise up harvesters for our fields.

And finally, we thank God that while we were alienated from him, hostile in mind, doing wicked works, Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before him, and that we have now become ministers of his Gospel.

This Gospel is the only hope for our country, the only hope for our friends, the only hope for our babies, and the only hope for the world. So I implore you, know it, pray it, live it, and preach it.