Sermon For Sunday February 28, 2010

THY WORD IS TRUTH

John 17:17

“Do We Practice Self Denial?”

        Today is the second Sunday in the season of Lent.

And lent is the season of reflection and repentance where we reflect on what Christ has done for us on the cross.

We are all redeemed sinners and we have a natural rebellious nature that at times we can’t suppress the desires of the flesh. 

And we are not alone for many of the bibles great heroes were men of God and fell into sins and some were save and some were not. 

We only have to look at Samson who did not repent and pulled the temple down upon himself and was lost. 

We open last weeks worship with David’s repentant prayer after he sent Bathseeba’s husband into battles and ordered his men to withdraw from him when the enemy attacked and Uriah was killed.

But David repented and he was forgiven. 

        And we have the example of the Apostle Paul who confessed that even with the resurrected Christ speaking to him and the Holy Spirit guiding him all over the Roman Empire enabling him to plant churches but Paul confessed that he could not control himself. 

That sin was in his flesh and although his mind had been changed, he could not do what his mind wanted him to do.

And perhaps we could visit that passage and he Paul lamented about his behavior and his struggle with sin.

But before we go an hear Pauls words lets remember where Paul has come from. 

When he was Saul of Tarsus he held the coats of those in the church who stoned Steven to death. 

Paul also called himself "the chief of sinners" since he persecuted the church and when the resurrected Christ spoke to Paul while he was one his horse of the road to Damascus saying to hin “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me. Why are you kicking against the goads?

And Saul of Tarsus was blinded by the glory of Christ and knocked off his horse and was forever a changed man.

And Saul of Tarsus was named Paul for he was a new person in Christ.

Paul was born again.

So now Paul knows that the law was good and his mind want to obey it but Paul his still struggling.

        Let go to those words of Paul from Romans chapter 7 starting at verse 14 which is the record  into Paul confession.

Paul says, “14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Here we have the Apostle to the gentles and to the church teaching that even after being saved and his mind transformed, there is still powers working in his flesh that oppose what his mind wants to do. 

So I ask you.  Is salvation enough?

Clearly it is not by the words of Paul!

By the words of the author of grace!  Paul us the author of grace. We only know whar God's grace is by the teaching of the Apostle Paul.

The word "grace" appears in the Gospels on 4 times and each time the word grace applies to Jesus and no one else.

Ironically, since the gospel is the gospel of grace.

The gospel is not contained in the 4 gospels.

The gospel is contained exclusively in the epistles of Paul! For only there do we learn what garce is and how it applies to the believers in Jesus Christ!

So what does that tell us a bout those preachers that preach exclusively from the 4 gospels!

Yes, we know of grace as the gift of God and that gift saves us from the book of Romans and the letter to the Ephesians. 

And since Paul’s teaching on grace was first written about first to the church at Ephesus and years later to the church at Rome let go and see what Paul says about grace first from the book of Ephesians. 

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 is the most central and important scripture of the whole New Testament for it defines the gospel of grace and the New Covenant.

Here are the words:

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Is grace important?  It most certainly is because we are saved by it.

But is salvation enough?

And years later Paul defines the difference between the law and grace in chapter 5 of the Book of Romans.

And in his contrast he compares the original sin of Adam and the act of righteousness of Jesus Christ (who is the second Adam).

With these words, Romans 5 verse, “ 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.


 20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So why is Paul upset that he continues to struggle with sin?

Because he fails to walk in the Spirit and his mind cannot control his body.

So until his words echo in his mind, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

And his answer was.

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ.

Only Christ can deliver us from sin and that is what the season of lent is for. 

It is to remind us that Christ has delivered us but we will still struggle with sin all the days of our lives until we are given an incorruptible spiritual body at the resurrection of the dead.

As long as we remain in this corruptible flesh we will struggle with the desire to sin!

So what should we be doing until them? 

Should be denying ourselves! 

Does Christ command us to do this?

We heard this command this morning in the New Testament reading to day and for me it has been Christ hardest commandment to follow. 

For much of my young life and even to this very day denying myself is a struggle and I lose the battle again and again.

But lets hear Christ’s hardest command one more time before we go on.

What does Christ say?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

This command of Christ was recorded by Matthew in chapter 16 and by Mark in chapter 8 with exactly the same words but Luke adds just on word in hos gospel chapter 9. 

Luke remembers Christ as saying "we must deny ourselves DAILY".

Out struggle with sin in a daily struggle!

 To become a disciple of Jesus we must deny ourselves and it is a daily process because of the sinful nature that is in our flesh.

        Paul showed us that we all struggle with getting ourselves to do what we ought to do and to stop doing what we ought not to do.

And Luke says that it is a daily process. 

But Paul also says that if we walk by the Spirit we will not gratify the deeds of the flesh. 

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

What does this scripture say to the modern church that cannot have a chruch function without including a meal or a dessert?

Do they practice self denial?

May I Close In Prayer:

Sermon For Sunday January 31, 2010

THY WORD IS TRUTH

John 17:17

“No Prophet Is Accepted In His Home Town”

      The sermon today is taken from the lectionary and sometimes I do not take the lectionary readings because they do not match. 

The two reading do have a common theme and that is the rejection of a prophet. 

And the reason a prophets is rejected is that the words of the Spirit of God that are coming form the prophets mouth are rejected because they are convicting the hears of either their sin or their unbelief. 

The first reading is from the opening verses of the book of Jeremiah. 

And God is calling Jeremiah to be a prophet. 

And God says something that many modern unbelievers reject outright. 

God tells Jeremiah that God knows him before he was born and God says "before I formed you from the womb I knew you". 

Today we treat the unborn as if they were not human and the reason they do is they don’t believe that God forms human beings in the womb. 

Many doctors also believe this.

 But I tell you as a scientist that there are no genes yet described that control the development of a fertilized egg to a new born in human beings or any other human species. 

That is not to say that there are not any developmental genes at all but they have not been isolated yet and identified as developmental genes. 

All genes are structural and code for proteins and that is all we know. 

There are no behavior genes isolated either that we can shift the blame of our bad behavior to. 

But that does not stop us does it.

The bible tells us that sin is in our flesh but as to whether it is in our genes remains to be seen.

        In any regard Gods tells us that he himself forms us in the womb and many places in Scripture God's declaration in Jeremiah that God not only knew Jeremiah but also God formed him in the womb. 

So lets look a just a few examples. 

Did God know others before they were born?

Yes. 

What about John the Baptist?

We here about him every advent season do we not?

Didn’t God tell Mary the mother of Jesus that her Aunt Elizabeth was to have a son and that Elizabeth should call the baby John? 

And then later God sent his Angel to tell Mary that she was to also bear a son even though she was not married and was a virgin.

When Mary was told this John who was in Elizabeth’s womb "leaped in her womb".

So God knew both John the Baptist and Jesus before they were born. 

The list is rather long of babies that were known in their mothers’ womb to God and it should be a subject of sermon. 

Both Esau and Jacob where known by God in their mother Rebekah’s womb and the twin boys fought in the womb and Rebekah asked God why?

God knew babies in the wombs as far back as the time of Genesis.

And what was God’s reply as to why she, Rebekah, was having such a rough pregnancy?

God says“"Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." 

God not only knows who these two boys are but what will happen to them in their lives before they were born. 

This story is repeated in the twin boys of Joseph the son of Jacob that was taken to Egypt sold into slavery by his bothers.

Joseph’s sons were Ephraim and Manasseh and their inheritance is a story that will soon be the subject a sermon this year. 

God knew them also had a plan for their lives.

Did not God know Hanna’s son Samuel before he was born. 

I contend God knew every prophet before they were born!  

          But where in scripture does God tells us that he forms humans inside the womb? 

Jesus is identified and is the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant and he was known as the Son of David.

It was David who over and over speaks of God as taking him from his mother’s womb and forming him there. 

In Psalm 22 that describes Christ crucifixion David writes these words about Jesus. “Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. 10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

In Psalm 71 we hear David speaks about this again,

 5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. 

6 From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you.

And then the most explicit statement of all again in Psalm 139 David says,

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

The bible is full of this idea of God forming human beings in the womb.

From Ecclesiastes 11 we find these words of God:

"5 as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

And it is as true today as it was them.

I took embryology and studied the development of a pig from the fertilized egg to the piglet born from the sow almost slide by slide day by day but no where did they say in one full year of study how this happens. 

For it is beyond man's scientific knowledge!!!

 Not one gene was shown to be operation not one.

The science of embryology is as ignorant biochemically speaking as God says we are in his word.

So we are left with his claim that he himself does this!

God repeats this through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah 42 verse 2 with these words, “This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

And then God repeats this in 5 he same chapter in verse 24, “"This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself… 

I could go on but I will leave it to another sermon.

        For we have the New Testament reading, where the people reject Jesus as a prophet, and where of all places?

We find that Jesus is rejected by his own people in his own hometown where he grew up. 

And why do you suppose they rejected him? 

Well, did it not Isaiah, the prophet, say that the Messiah would be rejected.

We hears this every advent at least every advent that I have been preaching in this church I have read this passage for the Chapter 53 of Isaiah verse 3:

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” 

And so when Jesus sets out in his ministry we might expect that he would be rejected by his own people in his own home town. 

And that is what we see in the New Testament today.

Jesus had gone to the synagogue and everyone had praised him in the country side the region around Nazareth and Jesus went into the synagogue as was his custom for it was the Sabbath day.

And what scripture do you suppose Jesus would read from. Isaiah!

Not surprising, don’t you think?

The scroll was handed to him and he reads form Isaiah 61:1 and verse 2.

Here are the words of Isaiah that Jesus reads to them,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of the sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of God’s favor. 

And then he stops reading abruptly as sits down. 

 But why did he do that?

Why did Jesus suddenly stop reading and sit down!

Jesus has stopped reading Isaiah in the middle of the sentence. 

And for a dramatic effect! 

What are the words of the rest of the sentence that he dare not read to them?

These are the words of the full passage the words that Christ leaved out. 

“And the day of vengeance for our God is the complete passage in Isaiah and he dare not read that to them.

And his sudden incomplete reading and sitting down must have startled them.

For he had their complete attention and this is His moment where all eyes and ears are upon him, and what does he say?

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in you hearing.”

Wow! 
What a claim. 

He has claimed that He, Jesus, was anointed to preach to good news to the poor and to give freedom and to heal the blind and to proclaim God’s favor.

And how to they receive this?

The first one to speak says, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

(They only new of Joseph the carpenter and of the boy who worked with his hands in his carpenter’s shop). 

How could he be the anointed as the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah?

And they ask him to do what they had heard he did in the near by town of Capernaum. 

They want him to prove his miracles for them.

But he refuses to show them and they become angry. 

And He says, "I tell you the truth no prophet is accepted in his own town".

I assure you there were many widows in Elijah’s time and there was a sever drought for 3 years but Elijah was not sent to any of them but just to a widow from Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 


And Jesus relates that there were many with leprosy in the time of Elisha but he only healed Naaman the Syrian (an outcast).

And this made them even angrier and they took him to the brow of a cliff as to throw him off.

But he walks right through them and no one touched him. 

Jesus knew who were his and who were not. 

        There are many similar stories that Jesus has in which is claims to be God’s son are rejected. 

I taught at the Gable house from the 9th chapter of John this Thursday about Jesus healing on the Sabbath a man born blind. 

Also fulfilling the Isaiah prophesies and they tried to stone him for it. 

And Jesus tells them you don’t have to believe my words. But you must believe in the miracles. 

And nothing has changed about that. 

The miracle of life is still as miraculous and unexplained as it ever was. 

Life did not come about randomly. 

The complexity of life and it specific structure proves that it had to be intelligently designed! 

This is what God tells us in his Word.

Is this not still the truth?!  Thy Word is Truth.

Does not God know us so intimately that he knows who are his and who are not!

And why does he know who are his and who are not, because he form us from the womb.

And what does Jesus say in John 10?

27"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;


28and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.


29"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

30 "I and the Father are one."

Let me close in prayer:

Sermon For The First Sunday In Lent February 21, 2010

THY WORD IS TRUTH

John 17:17

“Repent For The Kingdom Of God Is Near”

  Is Christ our Lord or only our Savior?

What happens to those who look to risen Christ for salvation but never do what he commands?

Do those people really belong to Christ are they part of Christ flock?

The answer is in the parable of the sower that was the reading from the New Testament last week. 

What about those who claim Christ as Savior but do not follow him as their Lord.

What about those who do not yield to him and are on their own agenda and not his. 

What a who hear his commands but never take heed of those commands and never or seldom if ever obey those commands.

Did Jesus ever ask this question himself?

Well those who do obey Christ would remember that he did ask this question in the gospel of  Luke 6:46 when he was teaching his disciples about the wise and foolish builder.

Jesus suddenly exclaims while he his teach, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?” 

 By His words, Christ expects obedience does he?

And he has told the same disciples in the gospel if Matthew 7 verse 21, “Not everyone who call me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of the Father who is in heaven.

Stern warning don’t you think?

And who among the disciples was he referring to?

Jesus called Judas Iscariot to be his disciple did her not?

In fact Judas Iscariot is the only one of Christ's disciples that is from the same tribe of Jews that Jesus is from, the tribe of Judah!

And is Judas in the kingdom of heaven?

(There are many who believer that Judas was forgiven but knot from the words of Christ.

Such people are in the church today and they are devoted to the heresy of universalism!

To those who practice universalism everyone is saved and there is no Hell and this is their world view no matter what Christ says.

To the Universalist sin is forgiven without repentance and everyone goes to heaven.

The universalist is Satan's greatest worker for if what the universalist says is true there is no point to the cross in fact the atonement is completely devalued and in fact rendered worthless.

The universalist will make statements like every life style is worthy of God's love!

When Christ and the Apostolic teaching speaks otherwise.  So the univeralist must ignore or explain away large sections of the bible for they have to negate the doctrine of redemption which i the major theme of the whole bible!

The universalist will actually contradict Jesus Christ and claim the Judas Iscariot is saved!

What was Judas Iscariot’s fate according to what Jesus of Nazareth said about him. 

When Judas got up from the table on the night He went to betray Jesus and left the room. What did Jesus say about him. Matthew 26:24b … “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!"

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."

Not exactly forgiving words don't you think!

Universalism is a powerful delusion!

Not all are Saved by the words of Christ who will be the judge of the quick and the dead.

If everyone was saved then Christ does not need to come back to judge the quick and the dead. Does He?

So what is the first command of Christ to all those who are called by Christ to be his disciples. 

It is the title of the sermon and we hear Christ say this at the end of the reading from the New Testament today in verse 17 of Matthew chapter 4.

What did Christ say?

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

And this was the start of Jesus ministry on earth for it was recorded by Matthew and also Mark that Jesus began to preach and what were his very first word out of his mouth. 

"REPENT!" 

I ask you does Christ expect us to repent or not?

But where did Christ get this idea? 

What did we hear from the prophet Isaiah this morning in the Old Testament reading today. 

The heading of the OT reading was?

It was Sin, Confession and Redemption. 

The translators of the NIV came to that conclusion of what this passage from Isaiah meant! 

Christ quotes from this passage from Isaiah as he teaches and what is in this passage that Jesus wants his disciples to remember. 

Remember all of Jesus disciples were Jews! 

What was the last line of Isaiah chapter 59, verse 20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.

This verse from the prophet Isaiah is chock full of meaning and significance.

 So lets think about what is means. 

Who is the Redeemer? 

To the Jews it is the long awaited Messiah, the Christ himself. 

And who is Jacob? 

The Redeemer will come to Jacob. 

What was Jacobs name changed to after wrestled with the Angel at Jacobs ladder?

His name was changed to Israel. (He who contends with God).

That is what the name Israel means.

Jacob becomes father Israel and all the tribes of Israel are named after his 12 sons.

But what is the kernel of truth that we should walk away with from the sentence. 

The Redeemer will come to those in Jacob who repent of their sins. 

From this verse is repentance required for salvation of the Jews or not. 

So does it not make perfect sense that repentance is required for salvation of the gentiles also since we are  not cultivated Jews but spiritual Jews.

We are made spiritual Jews by the blood of Christ as the Apostle Paul teaches.

Does this verse say that the Redeemer will come to all who are in Jacob.

In other words to all the Jews descended from Jacob. Are all the Jews saved by this verse.

The answer is NO!

It does not say that at all. 

It says that the Redeemer will come to Zion the mountain in Jerusalem to only those who are in Jacob that repent of their sins. 

So what was required of those of the Jews when the Messiah comes to them? 

The answer is by this passage , only those Jews who repent of their sins. 

That is why Jesus open his ministry on earth with the word, REPENT! 

I ask you by Jesus quoting Isaiah 59, what is his meaning in the teaching to his disciples. 

The answer is, “Repentance is required for salvation.” 

Otherwise, the Redeemer will not come.

        And how do we know this?

Does Jesus ever say plainly and direct that repentance is required for salvation in the gospels. 

The answer is "yes"!

He says so in a teaching to the crowd with his disciples present so he says this to his disciples also.

Remember the disciples will become the Apostles after the church is formed and any teaching Jesus makes or any commands that he gives to his disciples he gives to the church!

But Jesus gives this warning to both the church and the crowd those other who were not called to be his follows.

Where in the gospels does Jesus say that "you must repent"?

The disciples people come to Jesus to ask about an event that has happen just a few days before. 

In the gospel of Luke 13, verse 1,  "1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

And then Jesus offers his own event to make his point and repeats his warning. 

Verse 4, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no!

But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

And Jesus went on teaching the crowd in parables and as I said last Sunday he did this because those who are called to be of his flock will receive His Holy Spirit and will understand his parables but this who are not of his flock will not.

And several verses later in Luke 13 we see this because some ask him (verse 23), “Lord are only a few people going to be saved?

And Jesus answers, 24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'

"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' And some will object Jesus told them by saying. But 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

 27"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' 

From this teaching of Christ what is the narrow door and the narrow gate? 

It is the door of repentance,

“For the Redeemer will come to those who repent of their sins.

        Well if Christ has made His point exactly what is repentance?

What does the word repentance mean?

Well there are two words in Hebrew that might help.

The first is “nacham” spelled  n a c h a m  which means to be sorry. 

It is used in Job when he says in conclusion of the book. "I Repent (nacham) in dust and ashes".

But in the large majority of times it is used the Hebrew word is 9 out of 12 times in the Old Testament the word is “shub” spelled  s h u b  which means to turn back. 

This is the meaning taken from the Isaiah passage that Christ quotes!

But what does Christ mean by the word repent In the gospels?

The gospels were written in Greek. The Greek word is "metamoneo" which means to "change ones mind" or "to change ones purpose".

        So that is what Christ is talking about in Matthew 4 and Luke 13. 

We need to change our mind and that will result in a change in our behavior.

But what does the resurrected Christ tell us?

Remember the man Jesus of Nazareth had to go away sometime for days to pray to the Father and to know what the Fathers will was for him. 

But the resurrected and glorified Christ chose the Apostle Paul to be the Apostle to the gentiles. 

It is the Apostle Paul alone who teaches us about grace and what it means to the believer.

Paul's teachings were from the Resurrected Lord for Paul never saw or spoke to Jesus of Nazareth in the flesh.

But Paul spoke only to the Resurrected Jesus often and he wrote about it in almost all his letters.

What is the teaching of the Apostle Paul on repentance?

.Paul writes in 2Corinthians Chapter 7 about being sorry or being sorrowful over our sins.

Paul writes, “8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 

So what is the bottom line?

Is sorrow for our sins enough? 

Clearly not!

For if we turn back to our old ways and to the ways of world we become a friend of the world and that results in destruction.

 Could the Elders Come Forward For Communion:

Sermon For Sunday Fegruary 14, 2010

THY WORD IS TRUTH

John 17:17

“For I Am A Man Of Unclean Lips”

           Last Sunday (and that was two Sundays ago for we had to cancel because of the snow last week) the sermon was on the call of Jeremiah and how God knew Jeremiah before he was born and that he formed him in his mothers womb.

Today the lectionary has chosen "the call of the prophet Isaiah."

And in the call of Isaiah we have a panorama of the Old Testament and a very startling picture of the Holiness of Yahweh or Jehovah the God reveled in the Old Testament.

And in the New Testament reading for today we have Jesus of Nazareth teaching his disciple the "Parable of the Sower".

Jesus quotes almost verbatim from this passage we heard read this morning in the Old Testament Reading from the 6th Chapter of Isaiah were Isaiah is "called to be a prophet". 

Because Christ is familiar enough with the writing from Isaiah to quote from it in his training of his disciples it has added significance and we will get to that later in the sermon.

        And we should be glad that we did not have to be in the presence of the God of the Old Testament for God Almighty was unapproachable!

And the Apostle Paul was aware of this and writes about it when in the book of Timothy Paul says of God in chapter 6 verse 16

“the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see!”

 And one of the great contrasts is that God the Father in the Old Testament was Holy and incompatible with human beings. 

And just a Paul describes the God of the Old Testament we see instance after instance of the Lord God of the Old Testament saying that no one can see me in the flesh and live. 

But there are many times where God accommodates the fragile man and speaks to men.

And the one whom God spoke to directly most often was the prophet Moses. 

But before we get into the story of Moses lets look at the call of Isaiah and see why Isaiah is so upset by his call. 

Isaiah is terrified. 

For Isaiah sees a vision and he testifies that he as seen God.

What were his words? 

Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.

And he describes the seraphim and then he praises God with these words, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory”.

Did you notice how many times Isaiah says the world “Holy” in describing God. 

Why would if Isaiah only knew God the Father, Jehovah or by his other name “Yahweh” why did he just refer to him as Holy God in stead of Holy, Holy, Holy.

The evidence of the trinity is throughout the old testament if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.

As Christ says, "He who has eyes let him see and he who has ears let him hear" and Christ will make a big point of this when we get to the parable of the sower.

But lets focus in on what Isaiah is saying when he hears the call of Jehovah God to be his prophet. 

What does Isaiah say? 

“Woe to me”, He cries!

I am ruined!

For I am an man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty. 

Why is Isaiah so up set?

He is upset because he is terrified.  Why is he terrified?

Well we would have to go back into the time of Moses to find out. 

What happens to human beings when they are suddenly thrust into a face to face relationship with Almighty God. 

The prophet Moses was the first person in the bible that the LORD God Almighty spoke to face to face.

Some of you may have be here to hear me preach about this about a year ago when Moses came down from the mountain after he had been in the presence of God on top of Mt Sinai his face was glowing and the Israelite were afraid of him and he had to keep a veil over his face to they would talk to him. 

And when God spoke to Moses His voice was so laud that the people fell on their faces as dead men in sheer terror. And they beg Moses to leave them.

So just in this regard alone Moses was a special prophet of God. God spoke to Moses often and Moses was not afraid.

And although God spoke directly to Moses it gave Moses the courage to ask God if he see him with his eyes.

And that is what we sang about this morning.  “Rock of ages cleft for me.”

For that is the only way Moses, a man of flesh and blood, could see God and not be burned up and die on the spot.

So let’s visit that scripture to see how God the LORD Almighty accommodates Moses wish to see him.

There is this exchange between Moses and God in Exodus chapter 33 starting at verse 12. 

Moses and God are talking to each other “face to face” so to speak. 

I say so to speak because it is not literally Moses face to God’s face and why not?

Because of what will be revealed in just a minute.

If Moses was to look at God’s face and his glory he would on his perishable flesh be consumed.

He would we killed.

He would perish. 

Continuing at verse 12, 12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.'

13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."

14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."  

18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And then God reveals something about himself that is often ignored or forgotten today. What does God say about himself to Moses.

19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Moses clearly although he spoke face to face with God did not see God face to face for this reason.  So how does God show Moses his glory without killing him. So what does God do for Moses to show Moses His glory. 

Verse 21, Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.

22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

So if we cannot see God face to face how can we approach God? 

The answer is we God needs to come to us not a Spirit but as flesh. 

Did he do this?

Of course he did. He came in the flesh of His Son.

He gave us "the prophet as unto Moses" as promised to Moses in Deuteronomy. 

The word became flesh and dwelt among us full of "grace and truth". 

 Is the incarnation an important doctrine or not? 

We needed the Messiah or Christ because we need to relate to God face to face without being killed in the process! 

        So was Isaiah rightfully terrified when he saw the king high and exalted. 

I contend that he was rightfully terrified of God. 

And that brings us to the subject of the sermon to day. 

Are we like Isaiah people with unclean lips capable to come into the presence of God? 

What will make out lips clean? 

What will prevent us from being consumed by God’s glory and his wrath. 

Remember just before God spoke to Moses in this passage he want an angel to lead the Israelites to the promised land because God want to destroy them for their disobedience.

Lets look back at that so just a verse.

Verse 2 of Exodus 33 God says, “I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

So what is the bottom line here? 

Why is our sin not longer kindling the wrath of God. 

The answer is there have been a sacrifice, a punishment for sin for all time. 

Is this not what happened to Isaiah.

What made Isaiah’s lips clean?

What did God do to purify Isaiah’s lips to be able to proclaim God’s word without fear.

An ember or a glowing coal was place on his lips.

And where do you suppose this ember came from? 

It was from the fire that consumed the sacrifice.

The footnote of the NIV study bible tells us where this coal or ember was taken from to purify Isaiah lips and identify him as a man who speaks the word from God as a prophet. 

The note reads: “The coals of fire were taken inside the Most Holy place the Holies of Holies on the day of atonement “Yom Kippur” when the atonement for the sins of the people was year after year on this day.

Is this idea of God being in the fire that consumes the sacrifice in the Old Testament which is repeated again and again carried over to the New Testament teaching.

Remember the story in the book of 1 Kings 18, when the sacrifice was put on water and the prophets of Baal were challenged to consume the sacrifice by appealing to Baal and nothing happened but when Elijah appealed to God and He called down fire form heaven and the sacrifice was consumed by fire proving that Baal was not god at all.

The author of the book of Hebrews knew the character of God as demonstrated by Elijah calling down fire  and the cleft in the rock for how does the author of the Book of Hebrews say it in the New Testament verse 12:28-29, 28

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."  And why? Because the author of Hebrews is speaking to Jews who are falling away from the faith by quoting from Deuteronomy 4:23 when Gods said, “23 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.

24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Let me close in prayer: