I am Second® - The Robertsons

If you live in the States, the Robertson family probably need no introduction. If you don't, then the Duck Dynasty phenomena is probably unbelievable for a number of reasons! But either way, if you can stand the apalling camera work, their story is well worth 27 minutes of your time.

 

Single Superior Sacrifice

How can we be sure Jesus has paid for our sins? How can we know that the Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf, or, better, on my behalf? How can i know that the things i did yesterday won't (justly) condemn me forever? We can know. The solid logic of Hebrews 9:11-13 tells us that Jesus is the single, superior sacrifice who brings forgiveness of sins and a cleansed conscience. Do you want to be free from guilt? You can be! Do you want to feel free from condemnation? You can do. Let’s see how.

First of all, Jesus entered the real tent, the greater and perfect tent as verse 11 tells us. He wasn’t entering an earthly copy with bells around his clothes and a rope on His ankle. He was in Heaven, He was in the real thing. It’s one thing to have a picture of the fake Eiffel tower at Kings Dominion, how much better is it to have been to the real thing! Jesus can clean our conscience because He entered the real sanctuary, not made with hands, but made by God. The son of Levi ministered in the copy, and it gave the Hebrews some assurance, but Jesus is in the real sanctuary, not made with hands. Look and look until you see and are assured. 

Secondly, Jesus can cleanse our conscience because He has shed His own blood. If God took the blood of a goat as a covering, then there is no way He will reject the blood of His own Son! No way. That animal blood was a picture, Jesus is the reality. That picture gave some assurance to the Hebrews. When the scapegoat ran off into the wilderness, they could see that God had a way of removing their sins, when the priest shed the blood of the lamb, they could see that God had a way of paying for their sins. When we sin, we’re tempted to do something to pay for that sin aren’t we? I lied to my parents so I’ll get up half an hour earlier tomorrow to read the Bible. We’re tempted to do that. But we don’t need to. What covers our sin? What makes us whole again? Nothing but the blood, and that blood has been shed for us. We have nothing to fear, because we are covered by Him.

Finally, Jesus blood can cleanse our conscience because He works on the inside, not the outside. Verse 13 teaches us the blood and ashes of a heifer purified the flesh. But only the flesh. The old sacrifices never changed anyone’s heart, never cleaned a conscience. The new one can, and does.

The application is right there in verse 14. We are now free to serve God with all our hearts. There is nothing holding you back from giving your life to God’s will, nothing stopping you from doing whatever He wants you to do. Is there? Why should sin stop you, your sin has been dealt with. Why should guilt stop you, Jesus has cleansed your conscience. Why should what you did yesterday stop you from what God wants you to do tomorrow? It shouldn’t!

If You Will Not Listen

How do we know we're listening to God? How do we know we're hearing His voice? How do we know it's not just our thoughts, or desires, or something worse. If you listen to the local Christian radio station, you'll end up thinking that God speaks through waterfalls and sunsets, through this song and that song, and maybe He does. But wouldn't it be good to know for sure.

You know where we're going.

In Malachi 2, The Lord has a serious problem with the priests. So serious that He wants to rub dung into their faces. he them to stink physically because they stink spiritually. He wants people near them to be as disgusted with them as He is. Why? Because they refuse to listen to listen. They're not taking His Word seriously. They're not reading, meditation and applying the scriptures. And even though God talks to the priests, and we don't have a priestly class any more, the point for us is clear. What you think about the Bible is (ultimately) what you think about God.

There are four consequences in our lives when we don't listen to the Bible that we see in this passage. The first, in verse 2, is simply that we will not have a heart for God if we don't listen to Him. I can't know what my wife wants, what she likes, what she needs if i never listen to her. I can't please her, i don't know her if i never hear her voice. And the same is true with God. What a shame if we feel more connected to our favourite tv characters than we do to the living God.

Secondly, in verses 8a and 9b, when we don't listen, our lives will fall short of the standard that God sets us. Narrow is the way that leads to salvation. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees you will never see the Kingdom of God. Not in quantity, but in quality. Our righteousness must be of a different sort, it must be faith produced and joy filled. But those flames won't burn if they're not stoked by the Bible.

The end of verse 9 gives us our third warning, relevant not just to preachers. If we don't listen to the Bible then we will show partiality. Preachers will start preaching for a pay cheque not the glory of God, Christians will become yes men, rather than prophetic challengers of their friends. Because that makes sense, unless our categories of success and failure, of what matters and what is inconsequential are shattered and rebuilt by the Bible.

And lastly, when we don't listen you'll lead other people astray. if i don't listen i'll lead my wife astray. I'm like a child, not knowing how to go in and out, how can Fox Sports Live be more important than what God has to say. How can you best serve your friends, and family and co-workers and students and employers and employees? Listen to God!

Verses 5-7 gives the rewards of listening. Life and peace. Fear and awe. True instruction. Fight for time in your day to listen to God, neglect something else. Listen to the Bible.

Blood Soaked Youth Ministry

We've all heard the stats i suppose, about teenagers who grow up in church, go to college, and then never darken the door of the church ever again. Teens who grow up in youth choir, at camps, on activities, and now spend their Sunday mornings sleeping off the night before.

We've heard the stats, and though i struggle to believe that the number really is as high as the 70-80% i've heard quoted (what is it about evangelicalism and a love for negative statistics?) it's obviously a problem. 

What causes that problem? I guess there are a couple of obvious ones. Firstly, if your teen grows up in a teen centric environment, if they are always entertained and never asked to serve, always eating pizza and never studying the Bible, of course it's going to be a rue awakening when they go to church at 19 and suddenly they're treated like an adult. Of course they're going to be surprised when the plate in question is for them to give, not to take another piece of cake off. So there's that. The second is like the first. Maybe the majority of our 'church kids' just aren't getting saved. Maybe the sickness is in the youth group, not the frat house.

Both of those and more are part of the problem, but you know what i think a big, and overlooked problem is? I'm so glad you asked.

We've never taught our teenagers to sin. 

Let me explain. If our teens grow up in a world where they never fail, guess what they're going to equate Christianity with? Not failing. And when they fail at college, anywhere on the scale from fornicating to...whatever is on the other end of that scale, they're not going to know what to do with that failure. They've got no answer to the 'how're you going to go to church now?' question, so they quit.

If we teach young people that Christianity equals perfection, of course they're going to leave the church when they fail. Of course their seared conscience is going to keep them out of the Bible. They've sinned, how can they approach a holy God now?

This is the burden of the book of Hebrews. The blood of bulls and goats never changed a man's heart, never eased a seared conscience, never assured man of his salvation. But the blood of Jesus can and does. Hebrews 9:14 promises that the blood of Christ cleanses our conscience so that we can once more serve Christ. This is what our teenagers need as they go to college. A blood soaked youth ministry. We can teach five steps to a better recess when we run out of Gospel. We can fire up the attractional smoke machine and rock band when the blood of Jesus stops being relevant.

We need to be honest about sin. I sin, you sin, and our good church kids sin. Blood talk only makes sense in the light of sin talk. And it's blood talk, and only blood talk, that will grow faithful teenagers into faithful adults.

Out of Step with the Gospel

Have you ever messed up? Check your pulse, then yes. You've messed up and i've messed up, probably since you woke up, at least in the last hour. But when we mess up, we're in good company. Has anyone messed up as gloriously as Peter? One minute the rock, the next minute Satan, one minute swinging his sword to begin (as he thought) a final battle, the next minute ashamed of his saviour, one minute the pentecost preacher, the next minute eating at the kosher table in Galatia.

We read about this last incident in Galatians 2:11-14. Paul opposed Peter, and the rest, to their faces, because they were out of step with the Gospel. Now, pausing a second to rejoice that being in step with the Gospel means eating bacon, we have to recognize that we mess up, we sin, we lie, cheat or steal, because we all too often don't understand the consequences, the reality, that our sins create.

In 'No Other Gospel' Josh Moody points out that Peter messed up, and we mess up, because of four things.

What you do as a Christian needs to come out of what you believe.
I believe that it's my role to love and lead my wife, and that for a Christian, leadership is service, which is why i currently hear the whir of the washing machine. What we do needs to match up with what we believe. If we believe in a just God who will judge sin, we'd better not sin, if we believe that this God has sent His Son to die in our place, we'd better repent, and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We should spend our time, talents and treasure on our eternal city, not the one we see around us now. Peter forgot that, and forsook the gentiles. What we believe about the risen Christ and His bride needs to inform every area of our lives, other wise we'll constantly be messing up.

What you actually do shows what you really believe.
We hoard instead of tithe because (even if only for a moment) we believe that we can provide for our families better than Jesus can. Peter moved tables because (even if only for a moment) he believed you had to be a Jew before you could be a Christian. We're never too busy to do the things we want to do. You're not 'too busy,' to go to church, you just have something you'd rather do. You can talk the talk as much as anyone, you can teach sunday school, serve on a board, do whatever, but your actions, finally, will speak louder than your words.

What you do will change what other people believe.
Teenagers are a fascinating people group. It's amazing to see how the leaders of each group of teens will influence those around them. But it doesn't stop in high school, and it was going on in Galatia. Peter's actions spoke louder than his words, and he led people astray, even Barnabas. Because what you do changes the people around you. As a leader, people will follow what you do far more quickly than what you say. If i am never sharing my faith, it doesn't matter how often i teach on it, my teen group won't be either. If i'm never giving money to church, it doesn't matter how often i tell them it's a good idea, my teens won't either.

What you do will change what you believe.
Sin is death by a thousand paper cuts. Will one sin shipwreck your faith? Probably not. But that same sin over and over again, will leave you weaker and defenseless. Because what you do changes what you believe. if you're always skipping Bible reading and private prayer, eventually you won't think those things are important. if you're always seeing movies filled with nudity, eventually you'll think it's ok. Peter believed that salvation was by faith alone, but if he'd kept on eating at the kosher table, he would have believed in justification by circumcision eventually.

The Gospel teaches us that we are a whole. Our hearts and our hands, our minds and our eyes, are all part of us, and what we do with them matters. If the Gospel has truly ruined our heart for any of it's rivals, the outside will be consistent with the inside. But if not, we'll always be messing up and taking others with us, unless someone confronts us to our face.

Matt Maher - Lord, I Need You (video)

Sacrament Sunday at Moulin.

The congregation was numerous, and the communicants nearly a thousand. I preached a short sermon, and while they were partaking, i spoke a few words of encouragement, and bid them depart in peace. I expressed to them in the former exhortation my fears respecting the formality which obtains among all people, and urged them to devote themselves truly to Jesus Christ. After that i partook of the third table. On the whole, this Sabbath was not like the last. Then i was very much affected, now i was barren and dull. God, however, is the same, and His Word is unchangeable, and in that is all my hope. Woe to me if i were saved by my frames; nevertheless, i would never willingly be in a bad one. At six in the evening i preached again to those who understood English; but they were few, and they seemed not to understand me.

Charles Simeon, Pastor of a Generation. Handley Moule, P130

Woe to me, says Simeon, if i am saved by m,y frame of mine, and woe to us all if we let our feelings guide us. Some mornings we're up and leaping out of bed. Ready for the word, ready for prayer, ready to meet with Jesus once more. Some mornings, it's ten more minutes, it's let me check twitter, it's let me see what the weather's doing. But all our hope as Christians is, as Simeon says, in the unchanging God and His Word. Christ sits and the Father's right hand, and doesn't leave there when we're having a bad day. Christ has risen from the dead, our poor frames don't Him back in the grave.

It's so important, to know this, deep in our hearts. To be fed on the truth, again and again, that our salvation is all of Him. Don't look at a decision, don't look at your heart in the moment, look at Christ, and see Him dying under the wrath of God to pay fully for your sins, and then see Him walking away three days later, your salvation bought by Him.

Elimelech

Elimelech was a good man. A responsible member of society. Never missed synagogue, and his sweet wife Naomi was always at his side, always helping with the nursery, always willing to fill in for a missing kids worker. So people understood when he took his family to Moab. There was no food in the land remember, and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Even though his friends indulged in a sharp intake of breath when he shared their plans, it all made sense. It's Elimelech you see, God is his King.

But what happened in Moab hardly bares repeating. His sons married pagan girls, well, surely there had been saved by Naomi's prayers...right? The stories kept coming back to Bethlehem. No children. Barren women. Then the worst of all news. Elimelech dead, his two sons left standing over a hole in the ground, and then, surely not, but a few months later came still worse news, Mahlon and Chillion had died too. Whether in an accident or from an illness, the reports weren't clear. All they did agree on was that Elimelech had chosen himself as King, not God, and it had led, as it always does, to separation.

Just like Adam and Eve. They wanted to be their own king, and it looked sensible. We've got all the other trees, surely we can have this one, and this friendly snake makes such a good case. And they, like Elimelech died. When you're your own king, however sensible it looks, you'll always die. When you skip church to work, or play, or sleep in, however good it feels, and however sensible it looks, you'll die. When you leave the house of bread to get bread, when you do what is right in your own eyes, you die, no matter how sensible it looks in the moment..

And sin looks sensible, it looks reasonable, it looks good. We know we probably shouldn't, but what's the harm. And if it doesn't ruin your union with Christ, it will ruin your communion with Him. Where there used to be a fire, now a rock, where there used to be joy only duty, where there used to be service only shirking.

The Jews cried out, 'we have no King but Caesar,' and my heart cries amen all the time. It looked sensible at the time. Why choose this redneck carpenter over the imperial machine. And what did it lead to? Separation, Mahlon and Chillion, burying and then buried.

When my heart cries no King but Caesar, for whatever good or bad reason, the Spirit replies, no King here but Jesus. When the guerrilla forces in my life take ground, the real King fights them back. Aslan is on the move, and it's certainly not safe. The real King, not Caesar, but Jesus claimed you by dying for you, by bleeding for you, by removing His grave clothes and humming Psalm Two, early in the morning on the first day of the week. The first first day, of the rest of the weeks.

 Because what we need is not to say, 'God is my King, and i'm going to make it.' We won't, it'll be death by a million paper cuts. What we need to say is 'Jesus is my King, and i only have hope as i hold tight to Him.' If Jesus is your king, yes, there are serpents in the garden, but they'll be crushed, yes there are holes in the ground, but they'll only be filled until He calls, yes there are sins we struggle, but they've been bled for.

Whisper it with humble confidence, and ask God for help...elimelech...God, be my King.

His Doctrine was Jesus Christ

'His matter was never trivial, and he never wandered into idle rhetoric. To expound the Scriptures before him as closely and as clearly as he could, then to bring the message to bear full on the conscience and will of the hearers, was his settled aim, first kept in view intelligently and with great pains. And what was his doctrine? In two words, it was Jesus Christ. Everything from Simeon's preaching radiated from Jesus Christ, and returned upon him. Not that he forced texts away from their surroundings, and forgot the literal in the mystical. But he was sure that Christ is the burden of the worlds of the Prophets and the Apostles, and he knew that He was everything for Charles Simeon.

Mere moral essays in the pulpit were for him impossible, though no man could well hold the standard of virtue and duty higher than he did. And so were merely critical discussions, though he always stimulated his hearers to think. For him,. Christ was the centre of all subjects for sinful men, and all hius heaerers were sinful men, for whom the Gospel was the one remedy. Christ was the Gospel; and personal faith in Him, a living person, was the Gospel secret. To Christ all men were called, for 'pardon, and holiness, and Heaven; and those who came at that call belong henceforth to Christ, His property, bound to live and die to their Lord.' Simeon himself thus described the three great aims of his preaching: 'To humble the sinner, to exalt the Saviour, to promote holiness.' 

Charles Simeon: Pastor of a Generation. Handley Moule, Pp50-51

Jesus and Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1-10)

The major theme in the middle of the book, where we are now is that Jesus is our High Priest. He is our representative, the best representative there is. He sits next to God the Father in Heaven and represents us before Him. After last weeks interlude, where the author encouraged his readers to grow and be mature Christians, tonight we’re back to the main point, Jesus is our High Priest, our representative, in heaven.

And tonight, we meet one of the most mysterious, but helpful people in the Old Testament. As we continue our study of Hebrews we are constantly being reminded that Jesus is better. Jesus is a better King, a better prophet, a better offering. Jesus is better than anything else anyone else can offer. So we need to come to Him for salvation, for holiness and for hope.

That person is Melchizedek, and the author is going to use him to help us understand more about Jesus. Melchizedek is a ‘type.’ The OT is filled with ceremonies, events and people that are pictures of Jesus, or types of Jesus. King David is a picture of Jesus. So is the Passover, so are Abraham and Isaac going up the hill to make a sacrifice. So, what we learn about Melchizedek is what we learn about Jesus. what we see in Melchizedek, we’ll also see in Jesus.

These verses of Hebrews 7 tell us more about Melchizedek than the rest of the Bible. Melchizedek only appears in three places. Genesis 14, where Abraham meets him, then in psalm 110, when David tells us that Jesus will be like him, and here in Hebrews 7. This, incidentally is another great argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible. There’s no way that Moses, writing Genesis, and David, writing the Psalms and whoever wrote Hebrews thousands of years apart could have all imagined this same man with this same role. But here is Melchizedek ready to teach us about Jesus.

The first thing we see in verses 1 and 2 is that Melchizedek is righteous and royal. Four times in these two verses Melchizedek is said to be the King of something. He is King of Salem, mentioned twice, king of righteousness and king of peace. M was a priest and a king, just like Jesus is. Zechariah 6:13 says that ‘there shall be a priest on the throne,’ and M is a great picture of Jesus the priest-king. Melchizedek is also righteous. This doesn’t mean that he has never sinned, unless we think that Melchizedek was Christ Himself but it means that when he sinned he sought forgiveness before God, and asked that God would help him to fight against his sin. He was righteous in that he could be trusted, he could be respected, he could be looked up to.

M is a great picture of Jesus, who is the righteous and royal priest and King. Just think about that for a moment. The one who you pray to is the righteous and royal priest King. No one else get that. No other system of religion or belief gets to have access to God though Jesus, and yet we so often take it for granted. This knowledge should flood our heart with joy. We have Jesus, who loves us, who represents us. He’s righteous, so He will never let us down, and He’s royal, which gives Him every right to ask for things on our behalf.

The next thing we’re shown in verse three is that Melchizedek is personal, and perpetual. Read those verses with me. How did you get to be a priest in the OT? You had to be a Levite, and then you had to be the right kind of Levite. This is a problem for us, because Jesus wasn’t born into the tribe of Levi, He was born into the tribe of Judah. And no priest comes from Judah. But His priesthood is like Melchizedek s priesthood. Melchizedek wasn’t a priest because of his parents, he was a priest because of who he was. His priesthood was personal, just like Jesus’ is. Jesus is a priest because of who He is, not because He was born in the right place at the right time. Jesus is a priest because He was appointed by the Father, not because of who His parents were. Just like M.

And just like Melchizedek  Jesus will be a priest forever. Melchizedek's priesthood is perpetual, it never ends, just like Jesus’ priesthood is. He will never stop being a High Priest. In the Old Testament, this must have been a constant problem. You’d get a good High Priest, one who loved God, and was sympathetic to sins, but then he’d die, and who knows what the next guy would be like. This is never a problem with us. We know that Jesus has conquered death. As Jesus tells John in Revelation 1:18, he died, and now he is alive forevermore. So repent, and pray and share your faith, and read your Bible, and be faithful to church, and grow, and mature, safe in the knowledge that Jesus, your priest, your representative, will never die. He is always there for you.